No Love for the Poor
by cosmickiss2000
Summary: Serena is the school's outcast-nerd but what happens when she falls for the brother of one of the popular girls.
1. Prologue

No Love for the Poor

Hello, my name is Serena Alicia Conner and I'm 17 years old. I'm a senior at Westbridge Preparatory School in Los Angeles, California. I have one older brother, Josh who's in his 2nd year of college. When I was four my dad died of cancer, leaving my mother, Kristina to raise us all alone. She worked three dead end jobs to keep a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and clothes on our backs. I'm still not exactly sure how but my mom managed to get us in the best prep school when we were really young. Between her lousy jobs, our school cost and other household bills, we never had the best in life….well except for education. We shopped in thrift stores for clothes so it was common knowledge that we were poor so my school life was hell.

My brother didn't have it anywhere near as bad as I did though. When he was a freshman he got on the school's football team as the 2nd string quarterback and through some kind of miracle, the starting and 1st string quarterbacks were both injured before the second half of their first game and he was left to play. He took them all the way to nationals that year and every year after and from then on he was treated like a god. If my mom couldn't buy him something, he always had a girl, a coach, or just an adoring fan that would buy it for him. I'm not even going to pretend and act like that didn't bother me because it did. I was hella jealous of my brother and that's something that I don't deny to this day. I've gotten over it in the last couple of years, but at times it can be irritating when I'm compared to the great Josh.

Me, I'm nothing like my brother. For one, I'm a girl and for two, I don't have any athletic skills what so ever. I have a nice personality and I'm very sociable once you get to know me. I do great in school, I've been getting honor roll since I can remember. I have a photographic memory so I've never had to really study. School has always been pretty easy for me. Yeah, if you haven't already guessed it, I'm a nerd. "Princess of the Nerds" actually, I was dubbed that back in the beginning of second grade with my big thick black glasses and braces and because of it; I was treated like… well shit.

My friend Amy was dubbed queen for the simple fact that she took all advanced classes, had been skipped a grade, and that she made straight A's. Amy, who happens to be a year younger than me, wants to be a pediatrician and by the looks of things she will soon achieve her goals but it causes her to study ALL THE TIME, which I understand. It's just that sometimes I wish she and I could hang out like we used to, instead of me just spending time alone.

Besides Amy, I have one other friend. She's a teacher at my school, a real nice lady with an adorable little girl, who also happens to be my god-daughter. Believe it or not, I have actually had boyfriends, two to be exact. The first one was actually a great guy while the other happened to be a sick joke the "populars", as I call them decided to play on me. With as much shit as I've been through, I'm still far too trusting, which seems to always be my downfall that causes me more and more pain and well... this is my life.


	2. Chapter 1

Beryl Watson, Raye Carter, Sierra Roberts, Mina Dumont, Taylor Collins and Symone Parker are the richest girls in our school, they also happen to be the biggest bitches. Their BTEE clique, the (Better than Everyone Else) group pretty much runs the school. They say who's hot and who's not. Whatever they say is the law and that's final. Nobody can change that and I mean no one, not other Westbridge students, school administration, or even parents, not that they would even want to.

Right now, I'm standing at Raye Carter's front door. She's rich, spoiled, and daddy's little princess and for once in her perfect little life, she was sick, caught the chickenpoxs. Being that I'm one of the only tutors that has already had the chickenpoxs, I was the lucky one chosen to catch Raye up on her school work.

God could be cruel sometimes I mean she was the girl who pushed me into a pool fully clothed, knowing damn well I couldn't swim. She even put an article in the school newspaper stating that I was a prostitute for hire, not that anyone believed it. Now here I was at her house with the intention to help her. Yeah, my life was funny.

I looked at the note card in my hand to make sure I was at the right place but judging by the looks of the huge mansion and well manicured grounds I already knew I was.

"23 Hackney Drive, well this is the right place," I sighed. This was going to be a very interesting afternoon.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

I expected a maid or butler to answer the door but to my surprise it was some young dark-haired man. 'He's hot, at least Raye knows how to pick them. He had to be one of the many college men that Raye always claims to date.

"Can I help you?" he questioned, looking at me expectantly.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Raye Carter? Does she live here?" I asked and I could have sworn that I heard him sigh.

"Yeah that's my sister but she won't be entertaining any guests today," he informed me, already closing the door. With a quick move I managed to place my foot in the door.

"Look, I think you may have me confused with someone else. To be honest with you, I don't even like your sister. I'm just here to give her the class work she missed, I'm her tutor," I showed him all the books I was carrying to reiterate my point and to my surprise he opened the door and let me in.

"Sorry about that, I thought you were one of her little groupies. They're VERY annoying," he made a face showing just how annoying he thought they were. I laughed and he did too. I had to admit he had a nice laugh and a beautiful smile. Looking at him now I could definitely see the family resemblance. They had the same dark colored hair, same eyes, same cheeks bones, etc etc….

"I was just about to go up and check on her. Follow me," he led the way to the staircase. "So… why don't you like my sister?" he asked.

"Sugarcoated version or the straight forward truth?" I asked.

He laughed, "The straight forward truth of course."

"Because she's a stuck up, snotty, spoiled ass brat and that's just naming a few of her oh so wonderful traits," I answered, truthfully.

"Damn, you don't hold back anything do you?" her brother chuckled, giving me a glimpse of that beautiful smile again.

I shrugged, "you asked for the truth." We came to a stop in front of a door with bright red and orange flames painted on it. I looked at it questionably before glancing up at her brother.

"Raye has a thing about fire," he exclaimed, knocking on the door. There was a muffled sound and then a loud shriek. He opened the door and we saw Raye in the middle of the floor tangled in her bed covers, covered in calamine lotion. 'Damn, if I only had a camera.'

"Raye, you have some company," he announced, slightly pushing me into the room.

She huffed, "I really wouldn't consider her company. What are you doing here anyways?" Raye questioned.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm carrying this heavy ass book bag full of books for no reason," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Watch it Conner or I'll," Raye began until I cut her off.

"Or you'll what. After that last "prank" you and your stuck up friends did, nothing... not a got damn thing could hurt me," I hissed, balling up my hands. Noticing the tension in the room, her brother changed the subject.

"Raye, she's here to give you your makeup work."

"And to tutor you if it's necessary," I cut in.

"Well I'll leave you two to it. Raye, I'll be downstairs if you need me," with that he left the room. I watched him go, wishing he wasn't leaving. I really didn't want to be alone with her.

"There's no use in even staring. He'll never date you or for that matter ever look at you like that. You don't have a snowballs chance in hell with him," Raye sneered, climbing back into the bed. Oh, how I wish she would have fallen again.

"Who said that I wanted him in the first place? He probably has a stick stuck up his ass just like you and I can deal without another person like you in my life. You're more than enough. Now... you have the most work in Algebra II, so I think we should do that first," I suggested as I pulled the textbook out of my bag and began walking towards her.

"How about this? You do my work, I'll put my name on it and you'll turn it. That way we both win, I get a few good grades and we don't have to spend time with each other," she smiled, one of those smiles that usually resulted in her getting her way. Unfortunately for her, they don't work on me.

"Yeah, you're funny. I'm not doing your work for you. A tutor's job description is a private instructor that gives additional, special or remedial instruction, not to do it for you and then let you take all the credit for it. Now, we're gonna start with algebra. I suggest you get your book and notebook," I advised.

"No... lets do something else, just not algebra," she pleaded.

'She always has to make things difficult,' I thought to myself. "Why?" crossing my arms, waiting for her excuse.

"Math is my worst subject, I'm failing it," she admitted, putting her head down as if she was in shame. I stood there completely shell-shocked, Raye Amelia Carter, one of the BTEE was admitting that she had a fault in her picture perfect life, IN FRONT OF ME, A NERD. But not just any nerd, the so-called 'Princess of the Nerds'.

"Why don't you go ahead and do it. You know you want to," Raye spat.

"What are you talking about?" Confusion cluttered my mind.

"I know you're gonna gloat or something. So just go ahead and get it over with," Raye demanded.

Actually now that she mentioned it, it didn't seem like such a bad idea but then I would be stooping down to her level and I know that I'm better than that. "Well, actually I was going to say that math is my easiest subject and I'll help you."

For the next two hours I helped and explained concepts and procedures to her and by the end of the time she actually understood most of it. "Thanks Serena, you've been a big help but if you tell anyone I said that or that you were even at my house, I'll destroy you," Raye warned.

I shook my head, "It never ceases to amaze me how you can be a nice person one minute and a complete BITCH the next. But it doesn't matter, I don't expect much from you and your kind. I'll be back tomorrow after school." I packed my things into my book bag and walked out of the room.

As I walked downstairs I saw Raye's brother across the hall watching TV on their big screen. I thought he didn't notice me so when I got to the door and he spoke, it scared the hell out of me. "So you two didn't kill each other?" he questioned, he was joking, it was apparent.

"Naw, I decided to let her live, at least until tomorrow," I hitched my book bag up higher on my back and I walked out of the house.

Do you ever think that God just doesn't like you? Well I do, not even 10 minutes after I left Raye's house, it started to rain. I mean pouring down, I was soaked in less than a minute and there was nothing I could do about it. I was 30 minutes away from my house and at least 5 minutes away from the bus stop, which wouldn't even be there for another 10 minutes.

"Damn, why didn't I bring an umbrella," I muttered to myself as a car sped past and splashed me with water.

'Well if that isn't just hanky dory,' I thought to myself. I walked for about another two minutes before I realized that the water was no longer falling on me.

'But it's still raining,' I thought, watching as the rain hit the pavement. I was close to considering I was going insane until I turned around and saw Raye's brother holding an umbrella over my head with a lopsided grin. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me down the street.

"What are you doing?" I asked as we turned the corner and a black sports car came into view.

"What does it look like? I'm giving you a ride unless you wanna walk in the rain." He unlocked the door and ushered me inside. He ran around and hoped in the driver's seat and we were off.

"I don't know where you live?" he exclaimed, glancing at me. I sat there staring at him until I processed what he had just said.

"Oh, I live at 36 Colombian Court," I answered and the car was throw into silence.

"I'm Darien by the way," he announced as he placed his hand in front of me.

"I'm Serena, nice to meet you," I replied, shaking his hand.

"So... how old are you. 17, 18, am I close?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Yeah, 17. You?" I questioned. 'Hey if he knew my age, I should know his, right?'

"I'm 23," he replied.

"Oh," was all I could think to say.

"So, if you don't like my sister, why would you help her?" he asked, a few minutes later.

"The school pays me as a tutor, that means I have to tutor whoever they say, whether I like that person or not," I explained as we reached my house. He parked the car and insisted on walking me to my door. I told him that it wasn't necessary especially since it was still raining but he ignored it and followed me up the driveway.

"Well, thanks for the ride," I exclaimed as we reached my porch. I put my hand out for another handshake.

"No problem," he replied. He caught me by surprise by grabbing my upper arms and kissing me. My heart started to race at an uncontrollable rate and it didn't help when he pinched my arm causing me to gasp and open my mouth, giving him complete access. He wasted no time and slipped his tongue into my mouth and let him do it. To makes matters worse, it was like my mouth had a mind of its own because I started to respond. After what seemed like an eternity we broke apart and started to catch our breaths. I didn't know what to do. I was mad but then again I wasn't. I did the only thing that made sense, I walked up closer to him and slapped him across the face, HARD.

"Don't you ever do that again without my permission," I hissed as I turned around and went inside, leaving him standing there looking utterly surprised.

"Damn, he's a good kisser. Better than Seiya," I whispered to myself as I leaned on the door and tried to calm my racing heart.


	3. Chapter 2

I've been tutoring Raye for little over a week now and today will actually be my last day. Imagine my surprise to find out that when Raye wasn't with the rest of the 'populars a.k.a. The BTEE', she was actually quite nice. We formed a small friendship that I knew I would miss after today. As for her brother, I'd seen him over a half a dozen times, each time he was either with one of two girls, both claiming to be his girlfriend. Raye explained to me that with his looks and money that he had become a major playa at a young age and that she had never known him to be with only one girl at a time, whether the girl knew it or not. Realizing that the kiss he and I shared more and likely meant nothing to him, I decided to keep it to myself. Suddenly, I heard the bell ringing, signaling that anybody in the hallway was late, I hurried and closed my locker and made my way to English class.

I was met with snickers from the back of the room when I walked into class, it didn't take a genius to realize that I was once again the butt of their jokes. It wasn't really a big deal, honestly I'd grown accustomed to it. For the last three years their attitudes and treatment towards me has continued to worsen. See, in the beginning of their torment I would just take it, not say or do anything but just ignore them, but after spending the summer of my freshman year with my cousin Lita in New York, I realized that they don't scare me. Lita's one of the toughest women I know and she taught me to fear no one, except for maybe my mother. She can be downright scary at times. I rather deal with Mike Myers or Freddy than my mother when she is in one of her moods. But like I was saying, after my summer with Lita I started to say and do what I wanted whether they liked it not, they didn't rule me.

"Beryl, I can't believe you would do that. You know Raye loves him," Mina exclaimed.

"Hey, he could have said 'no, I love Raye, I'm involved with her. But did he? No. So therefore it's not my fault," Beryl smirked.

"That's bullshit and you know it. If he would have said that shit, that would have made you more determined to get him. You always want what you can't have," Mina pointed out.

"For something I can't have, I seemed to have gotten it, haven't I. What are you anyways, the conscious police?" Beryl questioned.

"No, I'm Raye's friend and I thought you were too, but obviously I was wrong. You know it's gonna be war when she finds out, right?" Mina questioned.

"She's never going to find out. Chad's not gonna tell her and I sure as hell ain't," Beryl replied.

Mina shrugged, "Unlike you, when I say I'm friends with someone, I mean it. So if you or Chad don't tell her by the end of the day. I WILL."

"You don't wanna do that, Mina, trust me. I could do a lot to make your life a living hell," Beryl warned.

"Was that a threat, Beryl? See... that's the difference between me and the rest of this school. You don't scare me, I could care less what you or anybody else think or say about me because at the end of the day, I'm still gonna be me. As for you though, I think YOU may wanna rethink that threat because all the shit Raye and I know about your social and personal life, we could write a book. And that oh so perfect reputation you created for your father's benefit would go down the drain, in a heartbeat," Mina explained, ending the conversation.

I sat in my seat eavesdropping on the whole conversation. I suddenly realized that things were about to change in a big way. The BTEE was clashing within itself and it wouldn't be long before they broke up. After that, my day became relatively quiet and none of the 'populars' bothered me. I guess the rising situation between Raye and Beryl was more important than messing with me.

As soon as I walked into Raye's room I knew immediately that someone had already told her. Her room was dark and held a gloomy look. I put my books on a table I knew to be near her bed and reached for her drapes. I heard a faint whisper of, "No...don't." I turned around and saw a shadowy figure sitting on the bed. Suddenly the light clicked on and the figure was shown to be Raye. Tissues surrounded her and her face was red and puffy from crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's that bitch Beryl," she spat and before I could even ask she went on.

"There's this guy named Chad, he goes to that college up the street from our school. About 9 months ago the girls and I went clubbing and Beryl came on to him. He turned her down and came to talk to me and a week later he was my boyfriend. And today I find out that for the last 3 months he's been fucking that bitch on the side," she completely broke down after that.

"I'm sorry Raye," I whispered as I sat down beside her. To my surprise she leaned on me and cried on my shoulder.

"Oh and what just puts the icing on the cake is that after Mina told me I called him to confront him about it and he breaks up with me for that bitch and she doesn't even want him. She just went after him for the challenge. I swear to God, Beryl is gonna PAY," Raye swore.

For the rest of the day, I just comforted her as she cried. There were a few calls from Chad, we never knew what he wanted because Raye would hang up on him when she saw his name appear on the Caller ID. Beryl even dared to call, but when Raye answered the phone she hung up. By the time I decided it was time to go, it was a quarter to 12 and the buses had already stopped running.

"My brother might still be here, ask him to give you a ride. His room is 3 doors down on the right," Raye exclaimed as she too noticed the time.

"Ok," I grabbed my books and walked out her room and down the hallway.

As I neared his room, my steps became increasingly slower and I started to get nervous. 'I mean, how could I ask him to give me a ride when I smacked him the week before?' When I got to his door and raised my hand to knock, the door suddenly swung open and Darien appeared.

He jumped back slightly when saw me, "Shit, you scared the hell out of me!" He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed as a smile began to appear on his face, "what brings you to my room?" he questioned,

"Uhmm, I...I wa-was wondering if you could take me home, it's too late to catch a bus," I pointed out.

"Am I gonna get smacked again?" his grin got a bigger.

"Maybe...maybe not," I replied, putting on my innocent angel act.

"Cute. Yeah, sure I'll take you home. Come on," he exclaimed as he started walking downstairs. He retrieved his keys from the small little table by the door and escorted me to his car. As he drove me home, I noticed him repeatedly glancing at me. At first I tried to ignore it, then I became fidgety under his watchful eye, and then just irritated.

"Okay, why do you keep looking at me?" I questioned after 10 minutes of his constant glances.

"I was wondering. Do you try to make yourself look ugly or something?"

"Excuse me?" I couldn't have heard him right.

"Well for instance your hair. If you cut it and brushed it, it would actually look nice instead of this untamable ball of frizz," he gestured towards my head as he talked. No, apparently I did hear him right.

"Well, while you're at it go ahead and give me some more of your thoughts on my appearance," I suggested, sarcasm was clearly present in my voice, somehow he missed it.

"Since you're asking. What's with those ugly ass glasses? Are you trying to hide behind them or something? AND your clothes, you are aware that when your grandma sends you clothes, you're not suppose to actually wear them until she visits?" he exclaimed as we pulled into my driveway.

"Thanks ever so much for your insight into my appearance," I replied as I opened the door, got out and proceeded to my front door, already feeling tears springing to my eyes. As I opened my door, I felt Darien grab my arm and swirl me around to face him.

"Look I'm sorry. It's just that...I don't get you," he muttered, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"What do you mean?" I wiped my eyes. 'Don't let them see you cry. Don't ever let them see you cry.' Lita's words repeating themselves in my head.

"You could be a knockout and I don't understand...why you don't try to be. AND then there's the simple fact that I'm still attracted to you even when you're not," he caressed my cheek as he talked, right before he kissed me. This time when he let me go I just looked at him.

"No slap this time, huh?" he asked, a smile gracing his features.

"I don't try to make myself look ugly. I just don't have the money to be glamorous," I whispered, looking up at him.

"But you go to Westbridge. I know it costs a shit load to go there."

"And that's exactly why my mom is not home now. That's why I never see her. She's always working to pay off debt we owe. I can't even remember the last time I saw her for more than 15 minutes."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know."

I shrugged, "It doesn't matter, don't worry about it. I gotta go to school tomorrow so I guess I'll see you some other time," I walked past him and into my house.

"What no goodbye kiss?" he asked as he grabbed my hand and turned me to face him once again.

"No I do-," was all I could get out before he cut me off with a kiss. As he let me go, I got a wicked idea and I smacked him.

"Owwww, what the hell?"

"You still didn't ask for my permission," I whispered into his ear, smiling.

"Goodnight," I pushed him out my house and closed the door.


	4. Chapter 3

The next day I spent the majority of the morning in the principal's office due to the fact that I overslept and was an hour late to school. He spent the entire time lecturing me on the importance of punctuality and by the time he let me leave it was lunchtime. I went to the woody area in the middle of the maze in the courtyard of our school and started to eat my lunch when I overheard Raye and another girl talking.

"I know I saw her come in here," Raye muttered.

"Why are we looking for her anyway?" another person questioned, disgust clearly present in her voice.

"Because even after all the shit I've put her through, she was still there for me when I needed to be comforted and now I consider her to be one of my friends," Raye replied as they finally found their way out of the maze, which brought them directly to me.

"Hey Serena! You know Mina," Raye introduced us.

"Unfortunately," Mina mumbled only to be hit in the arm when Raye heard.

"Hello Raye, what can I do for you?" I stood and put my back to Mina, though she may have been Raye's friend, she wasn't mine. She thought she was the shit and took her looks to the extreme. Two years ago in P.E. class our teacher made everybody play volleyball including the 'populars' and when little miss blondie got hit in the face with a ball by another student, she had the teacher fired and ruined the student's reputation. Other people got hit and understood that it was just a game and let it go, but not her.

"What are you doing after school?" Raye asked.

"Why?" I could hear the suspicion in my voice loud and clear and I could tell that Raye heard it too.

"Well do you wanna hang with me and Mina?" she asked and I could hear Mina groaned in despair. If she didn't want me to go, I would just to piss her off.

I shrugged, "sure, I don't have anything else to do,"

"Oh, that's a surprise," I heard Mina quietly mutter, sarcastically.

"Okay, meet me at my car after school. Damn, I gotta go," she grabbed Mina's hand and they disappeared back into the maze, leaving me to my lunch.

When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day, I made my way to Raye's car to already find Mina and Raye waiting for me.

"How'd ya'll get out here so fast?"

"Mina has our teacher wrapped around her little finger. All she has to do is ask and he'll do anything," Raye explained as she got out of her pretty bright red mustang to let me in.

"So where are we going?" I asked, slipping into the backseat.

"I don't know, Mina?"

"I say to the beach. The only way to get over one guy is to get another one, so I say we go guy hunting," Mina answered.

"Uhmm, I don't have a bathing suit," I muttered and both Raye and Mina turned around to look at me as if I was some type of three headed monster.

"You're kidding right," Mina asked, looking utterly shocked.

"How do you live in L.A. all your life and not own a bathing suit?" Raye asked.

I shrugged, "You'd think I was joking but no I do-," I began only to have Raye cut me off.

"Don't worry about it Serena. You look a little bit smaller than me and I have some extras at home that I've never worn, they look like they can fit you. Mina, do you need to go home and get yours?"

Mina shook her head, "Nah, I keep an extra at school and I brought it with me just in case, so I'm good."

"Okay to my house we go," Raye exclaimed and for the rest of the ride we were all silent as we listened to the radio. By the time we got to Raye's I was damn near sleep. We immediately went to her room where she went through a draw full of bathing suits while Mina went to the bathroom and changed into hers. She came out in an orange bikini and matching sandals with a towel wrapped around her waist.

"Mina come here, what do you think? Which one should Serena wear?" Raye beckoned Mina over. She looked at both bathing suits, then at me, then at the bathing suits again.

"The blue one," she declared.

"That's what I thought. Serena, go try this on," Raye gave me the bikini and pushed me into the bathroom. By the time I came out, Raye was already in hers and she and Mina were once again waiting on me.

"Now I see what all those baggy clothes hide," Raye muttered, as I came out the bathroom.

"Thanks, I think," I grabbed a towel and we headed back to the car. The ride to the beach was relatively boring to me and I found myself falling asleep again. I was awake when Raye started to gently shake me, I was about to open my eyes when I heard Mina start to talk about me. I wanted to see what Raye would say or do, so I pretended to still be sleep.

"Does she sleep enough?" Mina snapped, once again there was disgust present in her voice.

"Mina, what's your deal. She ain't bothering you. Why don't you just leave her alone?"

"She's bothering me, JUST BEING HERE. I realize that we're no longer associating with Beryl and company, but I don't see why we have to start to hang with losers," she snapped again.

"Whatever Mina, she's not a loser and lay off her, I'm serious. Serena, wake up," she muttered as she started to shake me again.

"Huh, yeah I'm up," I exclaimed as I sat up and got out of the car. We left the parking lot and walked to the beach, where we found a spot and spread out our towels. I put on some sun block and laid down on the towel fully aware that Mina was staring at me.

"God, I can't take it anymore. Raye, do you have a brush?" Mina asked. Raye didn't answer, she just threw one in her general direction which Mina easily caught.

"Serena, come here," she demanded.

"Why?" there was suspicion in my voice again.

"Just come here," she persisted and I got up and walked over to her. She sat me down in front of her and took my ponytail holder out and began brushing my hair. Soon she finished and I realized that not only had she brushed my hair but that she had put it into a French braid as well.

"Thanks," I muttered, looking in the mirror that Raye gave me.

"No problem," she replied and turned away. I shrugged and went back to my towel where I once again laid down.

"Raye, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," Mina exclaimed as she got up and walked away.

"Thanks, Raye," I muttered.

"For what?"

"Back at the car with Mina. Not many people stick up for me, so thank you."

"Hey it's no big deal. But I do have a questioned for you," she admitted. "What's up with you and my brother?"

"Nothing! What made you think that there was?" I questioned, suddenly becoming nervous.

"Just a feeling I got but when he kept me asking about you, it made me wonder more. But just in case something does start to go on, be careful my brother is known for breaking hearts."

"Ahh, well nothing's going on, so it doesn't matter," I replied.

"Where the hell is Mina? It doesn't take that damn long to take a piss," Raye pointed out as she stood up and looked around.

"Well let's go get her if you're so worried about her," I muttered as I too stood up. We made our way to the bathrooms where we caught wind of a heated argument.

"You think your shit is too good for me?" a male voice questioned.

"Quite frankly, YES! Now, like I said before get the hell out of my way," a female voice we knew to be Mina's answered.

"Oh I don't think so, sweetheart. You're gonna treat me and my friend to a little fun," he declared.

"NO, GET OFF," Mina screamed and that's all it took for me and Raye to start running towards the yelling. Once we got there, we saw Mina being grabbed and groped by this guy as his friend watched. I don't know what happened to Raye, I just know she froze in terror and just stood there.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? GET OFF OF HER," I yelled as I walked over to where he was holding Mina.

He smirked, "And what are you gonna do, read me a book?" He laughed at his own corny joke. Instead of replying I balled my fist up and punched him in the face, just like Lita taught me. He immediately let go of Mina and grabbed his nose as blood began to gush out of it.

"You LITTLE BITCH, you broke my nose. I'm gon," he began but was soon cut off when Mina kicked him in the groin and spit on him. I turned and looked at his friend only to find him laughing his ass off.

"Next time a girl tells you to let her go, LISTEN," with that said I too spit on him.

Walking over to Mina I found her shaking, "Are you okay?"

"Huh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I think I should go home," she answered.

"Yeah, okay, let's go," I put my arm around her and we started to walk towards the car, only to realize that Raye still had not moved. "Raye, you coming?"

"Huh. Yes, I'll be right there," she slightly turned away and wiped her eyes. She didn't want me to see but I caught it anyway.

"What's wrong?"

"Nuttin, but I think Mina 's right. We should go home," Raye replied. We went back and got our stuff. I ended up driving, Raye and Mina seemed a little too shaken up. Mina guided me to her house, which I found relatively easy. Once I dropped her off, Raye decided that she was okay and could drive, so she started to take me home.

"He raped me," I heard her whisper when we stopped at a red light.

"WHAT?"

"He raped me."

"No I heard you, its jus," I began but was cut off when the car behind us honked the horn letting us know that the light had turned green. She got out the lane and pulled over to the side of the road.

"When did this happen?"

"About a year and half ago. I was at a party and I met him. He seemed nice and I never would have thought he'd do anything like that. I mean you see date rape drugs on lifetime movies, but you never really think it's gonna happen to you, you know? So when he gave me a drink, I drank it, no questions asked. I was fine for about 10 minutes before everything started to get blurring and shit. I don't know how, but we ended up in a room and it was like I was paralyzed. I tried and tried to stop him but my body wouldn't move, I told him to stop but he just laughed and ignored me. He taunted me the whole time, telling me that I wanted it, that I was lucky he wanted me and that I should be honored, shit like that. When he was done, he just got up and walked away. When I was able to move, it hurt so bad," she broke down after that.

"Oh God, Raye. I'm so sorry," I felt bad, the only thing I could do was I rub her back. Apparently, her life wasn't as perfect as I originally thought.

"It was my fault. I should have never dra-," Raye began but I cut her off.

I shook my head, "NO, it's not your fault. You told him to stop and that's what you meant. He didn't listen, therefore it's his fault. And the fact that he had to drug you, is proof enough. Did you report him?"

"I wasn't but Darien found out and made me, but it turns out that the prick's father is best friends with the police commissioner, so he was let off with a warning."

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!"

"That's exactly what Darien said before he beat his ass. He put him in the hospital for over a month. His parents said they wouldn't press charges against Darien and would send their son away, if I would just let it go and so I did. I didn't want my brother to go back to jail. I need to some time alone, is it okay if I drop you off at home?" Raye asked, wiping her eyes.

"Sure," I muttered and she pulled back into traffic. The rest of the ride to my house was in silence.

"Thank you," Raye whispered, when we pulled in front of my house and I began to get out.

"For what?" I closed the door and looked at her.

"For listening. I'll see ya at school tomorrow," she replied before she drove away.


	5. Chapter 4

"I don't love you, Serena. I never did," Seiya exclaimed.

"What are you talking about? You don't...you can't mean that," I cried, grabbing a hold of his shirt.

"Yeah, I do. It was JUST a joke that Beryl put me up to. Okay, yeah, you grew on me and I enjoyed your company to an extent. BUT, come on. Look at you. YOU'RE UGLY baby, nothing I'd ever really be attracted to," he tried unsuccessfully to shake my hands off of him.

"If...if I'm so ugly then why did you make love to me, that's an act of love," tears made their way down my face but I refused to wipe them.

He laughed "no that's an act of fucking. COME ON, BABY. I'm a guy, we'll sleep with anyone if we're horny enough. And I have a vivid imagination, you've been Angelina Jolie quite a few times." He shrugs, "But then again... you do have something good going for you."

"And what might that be?" I took my hands off of him. I had the feeling he was about to say something that would completely disgust me.

"You're a great fuck. Now, that I think about it, you're the best I've had and there's been a lot. Now... we can continue to fuck if you want," he placed a hand on my breast. I shook my head in disgust, this wasn't the man that I fell in love with. This was someone totally different and I didn't want him anywhere near me. I pushed him and his hand away.

"Get out," I whispered.

"Excuse me?"

Looking at him, I said the one thing, I thought I would never tell him "I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN."

"Like I'd have a problem with that," with that said he turned around and walked out of my house seemly without a care in the world.

'God, how could I be so stupid," I cried to myself as I collapsed on the floor.

I shot up from my sleep, tears already running down my face as my dream continued to flash in my mind

"It happened last year, Serena. Get over it," I muttered to myself. Sitting up in my bed I looked at the clock to see that there was no point in going back to sleep. I got up and proceeded to get ready for school. After I finished eating breakfast I decided it was time to start making my way to school. Just as I stepped out onto the porch, Raye pulled into my driveway.

"Hey chica! What are you doing here?" I questioned as I walked to the car.

"I'm here to escort you to school. Now get in!" Raye exclaimed.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I walked over to the car and got into the passenger side.

"God, I don't feel like going to school today," she groaned out as she backed out of my driveway and proceeded down the street. We managed to make small talk until the school came into view, "Serena, have you ever skipped?"

"Naw, I never had anybody to do it with or any place to go once I did. So I never really saw a point to it. Why?"

"Well... today's your lucky day because we're skipping, but first we gotta go to my brother's place," Raye muttered, driving past our school.

"Your brother's place, but I thought he lived with you."

"OH GOD NO! We couldn't live under the same roof again. Don't get me wrong I love my brother, but he would start to irritate the hell out of me and vice versa. We almost killed each other growing up, numerous times. He lives in the apartments, up the street from here. They're nice I have to admit. He has a two story penthouse courtesy of being the junior executive of my father's company."

"If he has his own place why was he staying with you last week?"

"A water pipe burst in his building and he was staying with us while it was getting repaired. He went back yesterday," Raye replied as we came to a stop.

"We're here, come on," she exclaimed, getting out the car and walking inside.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

We waited a good couple up minutes but when there was still no answer, Raye began to pound on the door.

"DAMN! HOLD ON! I'M COMING," Darien yelled and after about a minute the door swung open to reveal a half-awakened Darien in only his boxers.

"What the hell? Raye, Serena, what are you two doing here? Aren't you suppose to be in school?"

"No shit Sherlock! Serena and I are skipping today, so I need to borrow the Escalade," Raye pushed passed him and walked into the house, leaving Darien and me alone.

"Come on in, Serena," he ushered me inside, uncaring of the fact that he was practically naked. We followed the noise that Raye was making and found ourselves in the kitchen where Raye was eating a bowl of Honeycombs.

"Yeah, go ahead, Raye. Grab a bowl and have some cereal," Darien exclaimed, sarcastically.

"Oh I already did, Darien. Don't worry about it," Raye apparently didn't catch the sarcasm or just didn't care and chose to ignore it.

"Uhmmm, Darien where's your bathroom?" I asked.

"It's down...you know what? I'll show you, come on," he demanded, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room. We walked down the hallway and opened a door to a room that I hoped was the guestroom, it was incredibly plain and empty.

"Yeah, this is a nice room but I asked for a bathroom." He pointed to one of the doors and I started to walk towards it. As I reached for the handle, he grabbed my arm and turned me around. He pushed me up against the door and kissed me. Before long I felt his tongue invading my mouth. We kissed for a couple of minutes and by the time he let me go, we were both gasping for air. He made another motion to kiss me but I stopped him.

"You're gonna have to hold that thought cause I really do have to use the bathroom," I turned around and rushed into the bathroom. I did my business, washed my hands and walked out the bathroom to find Darien sitting on his bed waiting for me. Suddenly, I remembered his two 'girlfriends'. Reality struck me hard at this point, I was just kissing a playa, a guy that had never been faithful to a woman or a girl for that matter. Did I really want to subject myself to that, knowing that enviably he would hurt me in some way or another?

"So, where were we?" he asked, getting up from the bed and walking over to me. He put his arm around me, only to have me shake it off.

"Nowhere as far as I'm concerned," I bit out coldly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he looked at me expectantly.

"What's wrong with me? How about the fact that you keep kissing me and I just realized that you're just playing with my head. In the past week I've seen you making out with two different girls why you still pursued me. They could be models while I'm a dorky girl with big ugly ass glasses, untamable hair and grandma's wardrobe and you expect me to believe that you want me over them. BULLSHIT," I started walking to the door. He grabbed me and turned me to face him before I managed a few steps.

"Hold on! Hold on! Okay, yeah I kissed them but they didn't mean shit to me. Wait… that doesn't sound good. What I meant to say is that those girls knew the deal. They were just fun and neither of them were my girlfriend and they knew that despite what they may have said. You're wrong because I do want you. I'm very attracted to you, I don't know... it's just something about you, like the way you bite your lip when you're nervous or play with your hair when you think nobody is paying attention. I really can't say what's gonna happen between us but I'm willing to invest my time and see," he looked down at me. "You don't believe me do you?"

"Quite frankly, NO I DON'T. It sounds like a load of BULLSHIT," it took some effort but I did manage to get out of his arms.

"Okay then, let me prove it to you. Go out with me tomorrow."

"What, where the hell did that come from?"

"Go out with me and let me prove to you that I actually have a genuine interest in you," he started giving me a puppy dog look.

"No"

"Why not? If you're so sure I don't like you, then you shouldn't have a problem going out with me to prove me wrong."

"No!"

"What do you have to lose?"

"Alright, alright I'll go, but it's just this ONE time," I gave in.

He immediately broke out into a big ass grin and grabbed me by the forearms and looked into my eyes, "you won't regret this. I prom-," was all Darien could get out before Raye bust into the room.

"Hey, I'm ready to-, Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Raye exclaimed, as she turned away and tried to leave the room.

"Wait Raye! You weren't interrupting anything. What were you saying," I questioned.

"Oh just that I'm ready to go. I got the keys and I called Emanuel. He's expecting us, so we need to get going."

"Who's Emanuel?" I asked, getting out of Darien's arm once I realized that he was still holding me.

"Don't worry about it, it's a surprise. Meet me outside when you're done," she walked out of the room leaving me and Darien alone, once again. We just stood there facing one another in an awkward silence for a while until he grabbed my hand and led me to the front door. When I opened my mouth to say goodbye, he put his finger to my lips and silenced me.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Be ready," he gave me a quick kiss on the lips before he all but pushed me out the apartment. When I got outside, I saw Raye waiting at a black Escalade with the cheesiest smile I'd ever seen.

"Shut up, there's nothing going on," I walked past her and got into the passenger side.

"Did I say anything?" she got into the truck and started it up. As she pulled into traffic her smile got even bigger and suddenly she turned off the radio and looked at me.

"Serena and Darien sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage then com-," was all she got out before I turned the radio back on and blasted it. For the rest of the ride I just ignored her and looked out the window. When she finally stopped, I looked around and realized that we were at a spa type place.

"Raye, what are we doing here?"

"You'll see. Come on," she got out of the car and walked into the establishment. I followed her inside and found some man I concluded to be Emanuel already sucking up to her.

"RAYE, it's been so long since you last visited, I was beginning to think that you'd forgotten about us," he muttered with a heavy Spanish accent as he grabbed a hold of her hand and kissed it.

"Of course not, Manny. I would never forget about you. I was just happy you could squeeze me and my friend in," Raye gestured towards me.

"For you Raye, we would do anything. Now, who do we have here?" he questioned, coming over to look at me.

"Her name's Serena."

"Nice to meet you Serena," he took my hand and kissed it too.

"Same here Eman-," I began but was soon cut off.

"Manny, call me Manny, okay," I merely nodded and he turned to Raye.

"Raye, what do you want me to book you two for?"

"Everything. I want the spa treatments and a trip to the salon after," Raye replied and that's all it took to get everyone in the place pampering us.

Six hours later and I couldn't even begin to tell you all the things that were done to me. I hadn't seen Raye in over three hours so when she finally saw me, she was completely and utterly shocked.

"OH MY GOD, SERENA! You look HOT, if I was into girls I would totally date you," she exclaimed.

"Ahhhh, thanks...I think," I stared at myself in the mirror. Even I had to admit I looked different, I almost didn't recognize myself. My hair was now straightened and just past my shoulders with bangs and highlights. Now that it was styled away from my face, people could see that the acne that I once suffered so badly from was gone and that I now had a clear complexion. My glasses were no more due to the stylist who "accidentally" broke them, suggesting that I wear contacts because I had beautiful eyes. Luckily, I always carry contacts with me just in case or I would have been pissed and assed out. My braces had been taken off two weeks before school started and now I had a beautiful white smile. All in all I was a full-blown hottie, which surprised me and obviously Raye. She paid for our little trip to Emanuel's on her credit card before we started to make our way to the mall.

"Raye, why exactly are you doing this?" I asked as we pulled into the parking lot of the mall.

"What are you talking about," she turned down the radio as she continued to look for a parking space.

"Why are you doing this? The trip to Emanuel's and now the mall? Are you trying to change me into someone that you can be seen with?"

"First off, I'm not ashamed of the way you look. I went to the beach with you yesterday, a place where everyone I know hangs out. It's just that since I can remember I've made your life a living hell and I know that no trip to Emanuel's or the mall is gonna make up for it but... I don't know, it feels like a start. So just let me do this, okay," she parked the car and looked at me.

"Alright, but I am gonna pay you back." We both got out the Escalade and made our way into the mall.

For the next 4 hours, we shopped. She bought me everything, shirts, skirts, pants, shorts, shoes, boots and anything else she happened to see that she thought I looked good in, never once looking at the price. I was in awe at how rich people shopped. This was also the first time in my life that I received so much male attention that wasn't some kind of cruel joke. They would whistle, clap and just plain follow us around. I had a few who actually came up and asked for my name and number. I merely said that I was involved with somebody and wasn't interested. Raye on the other hand was on fire. She was getting numbers left and right and anyone could tell that she was on her way to recovery and that Chad was almost if not completely forgotten about. By 8:00 that night we made our way back to Darien's house only to find out that he wasn't home. Raye decided to drop me off and just return the truck later. When we got to my house, we spent 15 minutes unloading my bags into the house and then Raye left but not before reminding me that she would pick me up for school tomorrow.

Once I was alone I made myself some dinner and spent the majority of the night putting away my new clothes. I finally managed to drag my butt into bed a little bit after our grandfather clock struck midnight.


	6. Chapter 5

The next day I was awakened by the sound of someone pounding on my front door. 'I'm way too tired for this,' I thought to myself as I kicked off my covers and marched downstairs.

"WHAT?" I yelled as I swung open my door to find Raye and Mina standing there.

"Friday. School. Suppose to be there. Does any of this ring a bell?" Raye questioned. I just shrugged my shoulders and let them inside.

"Let me take a shower, then we can go," I left the room and made my way upstairs to the bathroom. Ten minutes later when I got out of the shower, I figured that Raye was either still downstairs or that she had left me. It didn't really matter too much to me, I knew I would get to school one way or another. All of my teachers and I had an unspoken agreement that as long as I maintained a high B or A in their class that any tardiness on my part would be excused. The only person I had to worry about running into was the principal, who didn't share my teachers same views. Walking into my room I found that either Mina or Raye had picked out some clothes for me. A black mini shirt, white tank top and black high heels. "Yeah right. Like that was gonna happen. Where did they think we were going, a club?" I laughed to myself as I put their chosen clothes back in my closet. I on the other hand chose to wear dark blue jeans, a white wife-beater and matching dark blue flip flops. Walking downstairs into the kitchen I found Raye sitting at table reading an old US magazine while Mina ate the Cajun chicken that I made last night for dinner.

"Serena, this is good. Who made it?"

"I did," I took a seat beside Raye.

"You can cook?" She looked quite surprised. Not knowing whether I should be offended or not, I just let it go.

"Well, when your mother is pulling double shifts and your brother can't cook to save his life you learn to fend for yourself. I've been cooking since I was 7 years old." After Mina finished eating and put her plate in the sink, I grabbed my book-bag and we began to leave until Mina grabbed my arm and turned me around to face her. 'Why do people constantly grab my arms' I thought to myself.

"Raye, you weren't lying. Manny did a great job on her. You're beautiful Serena."

"Thanks," I tried to walk away until Mina once again turned me around to face her.

"Hey, where are the clothes that I picked out for you?" She questioned, looking at my attire.

So she was the one to pick out my clothes. I wasn't surprised. "I put them back. I would look like a hoe if I wore them."

"I'm wearing the same exact thing except for a different color."

"My point exactly," I immediately berated myself. "Sorry. I take that back. Habit, I swear. But honestly, I'm not comfortable wearing those types of clothes. I'm more of a jeans and T-shirt type of girl." She seemed to accept my answer and let the insult go. We made our way to the Escalade and got in, on our way to school Mina and Raye managed to make small talk while I just looked out the window. Once we pulled into the school parking lot and parked, we all got out and began to walk towards the building when Mina stopped us.

"Serena can I talk to you?" she asked as we neared the front doors.

"Sure."

"I kidda wanted to talk to her alone, Raye. Could you give us a minute?"

"Yeah, just don't take too long. We're already hella late," Raye walked ahead, leaving Mina and me there.

"Serena, I just wanted to tell you, thank you for helping me the other day at the beach with that guy. I don't even wanna think about what would have happened if you hadn't of come."

"Hey, no probl-," I began but was cut off.

"Hold on, I'm not done. I also wanted to say sorry for all the shit that I've done to you or had done to you in the past. I realize now that I was wrong and that nobody deserves that type of treatment and like I said before, I'm truly sorry. I was wondering or more like hoping that we could put all that behind us and be friends."

"Put what behind us," I questioned, smiling.

"Nothing. Friends?" she stuck her hand out to shake.

"Friends," and we shook hands and then went to catch up with Raye.

When we finally did get to our first class of the day, it immediately became quiet when we entered.

"Ahhh. Ms. Carter, Ms. Dumont, and Ms…Co-Conner nice of you three to finally join us. As I have already told the class, today is a free day, so find a seat and do whatever. Just don't be loud," Ms. Hunter explained.

We all just nodded our heads and began looking for some seats, which we found at the back of the classroom. As we walked towards the seats, with me in the back, I couldn't help but to laugh at the people in our class. Girls that gave me superior looks, played cruel and hateful jokes on me, and laughed in my face were now looking at me in awe, astonishment, and mostly jealousy. The guys, the ones that used to say I was repulsive, unattractive, and just plain ugly were now openly starring at me with lust and desire in their eyes. IT WAS FUCKING HILARIOUS. Just as we past Beryl and what was left of the BTEE, her foot snaked out and tripped me.

"Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," she gave me an innocent look.

"Obviously, the same way you didn't see a mirror this morning," I retorted and was rewarded with many laughs throughout the class, even some from the girls in her crew and the teacher. Beryl gave me one of her famous death stares, which I just shrugged off and continued to my seat where Mina and Raye were already waiting for me.

"Damn girl, by the way the guys are checking you out, your social calendar is gonna be full for the rest of the year," Mina announced.

"I don't think Darien would like that too much," Raye pointed out as she shook her head.

"Your fine ass brother, why would he care?" Mina questioned.

"Oh, yeah, you don't know. Darien has a thang for Serena," Raye replied.

"Uh, no he doesn't," I cut in.

"YES, he does. Serena's in denial," Raye exclaimed.

"Whatever," I mumbled, putting my head down as I started to blush. I ended up going to sleep and was awoken when the bell rang. Mina, Raye, and I were walking out the class when Ms. Hunter stopped us.

"Ms. Conner. Could you wait a moment, I would like to speak with you?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Serena, we'll catch ya lata," Raye announced as she and Mina left. Once everyone was gone and the door was closed, Ms. Hunter and I dropped our teacher-student relationship act.

"You look gorgeous, Serena. I'm guessing that it's courtesy of your new friends."

"Thanks and yes it is."

"Be careful. I've seen the way they've treated you these last few years and I don't wanna see you get hurt again," she was worried, I could see it on her face.

"Don't worry Chelle. I honestly don't think that I'm gonna be hurt this time."

"Like I said, just be careful, but anyways I was hoping that you could watch Hotaru for me?"

"Sure when?"

"Tonight, tomorrow, and the day after that."

"Damn Chelle!"

"Come on Serena. Amara and I rarely get a whole weekend to 'share' all by ourselves. PLEASE," she begged and of course I crumbled and gave in.

"Okay sure, you're just lucky I love you and her," I pointed out. I got a weird feeling.

"You okay? What's wrong," she noticed my distress.

"I don't know, I have the feeling that I'm forgetting something."

"Well can you think of anything?"

"Now, if I could think of it, it wouldn't be forgotten, now would it Chelle," I smiled. It always feels good to outsmart someone that's suppose to be smarter than you.

"Okay, then smartass," Chelle laughed. "I'm going to drop her off today at 5:00. Is that good?"

"Yeah, sure," I still couldn't shake that feeling so I just ignored it.

"Thanks so much, Serena. Here's your pass to class," she handed me the small piece of paper.

"No problem," I took it and left the room.

You see Michelle Hunter who is my English teacher also happens to be a close friend of mine. She grew up in a small country town where it was a sin to have a sexual interest in females when you were one. So, she hid it by marrying a friend of her's, Shawn Hayes, who happened to be gay. Four years into their fake marriage, he was found dead from a self-inflected gunshot to the head. Deciding she wasn't going to end up like him, she told her family about her sexual preference and they disowned her. One month later she found out that she had gotten pregnant from Shawn on their anniversary when they both happened to get drunk. That's when she moved to L.A. and became a teacher and also my friend. For the last 6 and a half months, she's been dating Amara Benson, a veterinarian by day and famous illegal street racer by night.

As I continued to walk to my class someone blocked my path, looking up I found Beryl glaring down at me.

"I hope you don't think that just because you got a make-over you're better than me," she hissed.

I shrugged "I've always been better than you, NOW I look better too." I pushed past her and continued to my class. When I finally got there and gave my teacher the pass, she explained our assignment to me and I got started. The rest of the day progressed much of the same way. Go to class and do work or either it's a free day and I just sit and talk to Mina and Raye. By the end of the day, I had two more confrontations with Beryl that left her looking like the fool rather than me, not that that's hard. When it was time to go, I met Raye and Mina back at the truck and they dropped me off at home. After 3 hours of cleaning the house, the doorbell rang.

"Hey," I exclaimed, opening the door to find Michelle and a 3-year-old Hotaru in her arms.

"RENA, RENA, RENA," Hotaru sang as she all but jumped into my arms.

"Hey munchkin, how ya doing?"

"Good. Mommy said I'm going to be staying with you for the WHOLE weekend. Is it true?"

"Sure is. We're gonna stay up late and do girlie stuff and eat tons of junk food."

"I don't think so. I want her in bed by 8 and no junk food AT ALL, Serena. I'm serious," Michelle cut in, just as someone honked the horn. That's when I realized that there were two different cars in my driveway.

"What the..," I began before Michelle cut me off.

"I know you don't have a car so I'm letting you borrow mine this weekend especially since you might need to go out and get something for Hotaru. Look I gotta run. Amara and I are going to see a movie and she's so damn impatient," Michelle handed me the keys to her car.

"Bye, Bye Mommy. Love you."

"I love you too. Bye sweetheart. Be good for Serena," she kissed Hotaru on the cheek, then looked at me "thanks so much for looking after her, Serena. Remember in bed by 8 and no junk food," she reprimanded.

"Just go, Chelle. Just have fun this weekend. I'll take care of this little munchkin," I kissed her cheek and pushed her in the direction of the car. Hotaru and I watched as Michelle got into the car with Amara, gave us one last goodbye wave and took off down the street.

"Now, that your mom is gone, I think we need to go to the grocery store and stock up on some junk food and go rent some videos. What do you say?"

"YAY," Hotaru sang.

"Well that's definitely a yes. Come on," I went back into the house, put some shoes on, grabbed the house keys and we made our way to Michelle's blue Honda Accord.

An hour and a half later we pulled back into my driveway. I carried in our bags filled with junk food while Hotaru brought in the movies I bought. We changed into our pajamas, I popped some popcorn, grabbed some drinks and candy and met her back in the living room. Hotaru decided that she was in the mood for a scary movie. So we put in the one scary movie I rented. I turned off all the lights in the house and grabbed a big blanket from my bed and sat on the couch and cuddled with Hotaru as we watched the movie. Getting into the movie, I actually found myself scared shitless.

DING DONG

"AHHHHHHHHHHH" Hotaru and I screamed, jumping as we heard the doorbell. After being scared out of my mind by that movie there was no way in hell that I was walking around this dark house unprotected. With Hotaru right behind me, I went to the closet and grabbed my brother's baseball bat and proceed to the front door. As I slowly opened the door, I found Darien standing there.

"Um Darien, what are you doing here?"

"I thought we had a date."

"DAMN, THAT'S WHAT I FORGOT!"

"You forgot. Maybe it's not me that doesn't have a interest, it's you. You know what, never mind. I'll see you around," Darien turned around and began walking away, but not before I could see the hurt look cross over his face. 'Damn, now I feel all guilty'

"Hotaru wait right here. I'll be right back," I told her as I handed her the bat and dashed out the house after Darien.

"DARIEN, WAIT," to my surprise he actually stopped.

"WHAT?"

"Look, I'm sorry I forgot about our date. I didn't think you were serious in the first place."

"Well, now you know I was. I like the new look, you look beautiful," he whispered as he continued to walk away.

"Darien, wait. I'm just babysitting a friend's daughter and we're watching this scary movie. I think we would both appreciate it, if you would stay a little while. Do you think you could?" I grabbed his hand and stopped him from walking away again. He seemed to think it over, before he answered.

"Why not," he turned around and we walked back to the house, hand in hand.

"Hotaru this is Darien, Darien this is Hotaru," I announced, taking the bat away from her and placing it by the door.

"Hey nice to meet you," Darien crouched down to her height

"Are you Rena's boyfriend?" she questioned, I turned red in embarrassment.

"No...not yet anyways," he smiled at me.

"Are you going to make her cry like her last boyfriend?"

"Hotaru," I cut in only to be ignored.

"No, I won't make her cry," he answered now giving me a confused look.

"Okay, then let's go watch the movie," she grabbed both of our hands and actually pulled us into the living room.


	7. Chapter 6

We walked back into the living room where Hotaru used her innocent child charms and persuaded me to sit down on the middle of the couch. She then used the same tactic on Darien and made him sit down beside me and put his arm around me. She then climbed on his lap and pulled the covers around us. I found myself feeling safe and comfortable in his arms, which scared the hell out of me. I mean I wasn't suppose to feel like this, especially since I just met him and didn't know shit about him. Turning my head to look at him, I couldn't help but smile, they looked so cute together. Hotaru sat on Darien's lap telling him about the movie up until this point as he quietly listened, asking questions every now and then. He must have felt me staring because he tightened his hold on me and gave me a wink before he went back to listening to Hotaru. After a couple of minutes, Hotaru finally finished telling him about the movie and now we all sat in silence, watching it. A half an hour later the movie came to an end with the monster dead and only four families remaining in the small town, I looked over to find Hotaru asleep.

"Here, let me take her," I whispered as I stood up and reached for her only to have him pull her away.

"Nah, that's alright. I can take her, just show me where she's sleeping," he exclaimed as he too stood up with Hotaru still in his arms.

"Okay, follow me," I lead him upstairs and into my room. She woke up, just as Darien laid her down in my bed. Hotaru quickly sat up, said goodnight and gave Darien a hug and kiss. He returned the gesture and then left the room. I went to my closet and pulled out another blanket and placed it around her.

"Rena, do you like the man?"

"You mean Darien. He's okay. Why do you ask?"

"Me thinks he nice and that he likes you," Hotaru yawned.

"Taru, it's I thin- oh nevermind. Yeah, he does like me but right now it's time for you to go to sleep. Goodnight, I love you," I gave her a hug and kiss.

"Night, love you too," she mumbled, sleep already claiming her. As I left the room and closed the door, I was surprised to find Darien leaning on the wall, waiting for me.

"She's a smart kid," Darien commented after a minute of elapsed silence.

"I know. She's actually been tested. The doctors say her IQ matches one of a normal fifth grader, pretty good for a child who hasn't even been to kindergarten. She's just has a small problem with her grammar, but we're working on it."

"Oh, that's good. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

"What happened with your last boyfriend? You know the one that made you cry."

"That's none of your business," I snapped. I could immediately tell from the look on his face that I handled the situation wrong and I once again felt guilty.

"Look, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I apologize. That's just a really touchy subject for me. How about we go downstairs and I'll order us a pizza and we can forget about this."

"Nope, I was gonna take you out to dinner tonight and since I can't actually take you, I'm gonna bring it to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to cook you dinner. So you're going to go downstairs and watch TV until I tell you dinner is ready," he walked me downstairs and into the living room, where he left me. For the next 30 minutes I could hear him banging around in the kitchen, while the smell of something delicious continuously nipped at my senses. A little after the banging finally ended, Darien came and got me.

"Dinner is ready," he announced as he walked back into the living room.

"Good, I'm hungry as hell!" I jumped up and tried to walk past him only to have him grab my arm and stop me.

"Hold on. Close your eyes. It's a surprise," he could tell from the look on my face I wasn't about to close anything.

"Close your eyes, Serena. Trust me," he whispered into my ear, causing me to shiver. After hearing the soft plea in his voice, I couldn't help but listen and close my eyes. Darien grabbed my hand and led me into the dining room, where he sat me down.

"Open your eyes," I heard him mutter. Looking around, I saw that he had set the dining room table for two, with candles lit all throughout the room.

"God, this is beautiful. Nobody has ever done something romantic like this for me. Thank you," I took the initiative this time and kissed him.

"Hey, hey. First we eat, then we play," Darien broke the kiss.

"Okay," I mumbled as he went to go get dinner. He came back with shrimp stir-fry, which we both immediately started to eat. After we finished eating and placed the dishes in the dishwasher, we retired back into the living, where we started to watch TV again. It wasn't long before we started kissing. In an act to get more comfortable in his arms, I ended up straddling his lap. I'm not sure how long it was but I felt his right hand slip into my shirt and grab my breast, while the left hand lifted my shirt over my head. I knew that things needed to stop before they got out of hand.

"Darien, Darien, stop," I muttered, after breaking our kiss. Darien still not fully comprehending what I said tried to pull me back into a kiss. As his lips came closer to me, I turned my head and he met with my cheek. I thought that he would take the hint and stop his attack on my body. I WAS WRONG. Instead of stopping, he started to kiss up and down my neck. I began to let out small moans and I knew that if I didn't stop him soon, that I would break and let him have his way with me.

"Darien, STOP," I pushed myself off his lap and away from him. Once I was out of direct contact with him, he seemed to recollect his senses. I quickly grabbed my shirt out of his hand and put it back on.

"Darien, are you okay?" I questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, sorry. That's never happened before."

"What?"

"I wanted you so much, I lost control. I wasn't even listening to you when you said no. I COULD HAVE RAPED YOU," he placed his hand on my cheek, which I leaned into.

"Please, any longer and it would have been anything but rape. I was enjoying it just as much as you," I put my hand over his.

"But even if you weren't enjoying it, Serena, I wasn't liste-," he began until I cut him off by kissing him. We kissed for a few minutes before I started to feel my control slipping again.

"Damn, you're intoxicating," I heard him whisper into my ear after I ended our kiss.

"Thanks, I think. Can we just watch TV and cuddle? Would that be okay?"

"Fine by me," he answered as I snuggled up to him. He covered us with a blanket and then wrapped his arms around me. We started to watch some romantic comedy. Half way through the movie I started to feel sleepy and it wasn't long before darkness claimed me completely.

The next morning I woke up in my mother's bed. I started to piece together the events from last night, when I decided to check on Hotaru. A sudden wave of terror spread through me when I looked into my room and found it empty. Just as I was about to start freaking out, I heard giggling. Following the sound I found myself downstairs in the kitchen. Darien and Hotaru were almost done cooking what appeared to be a feast; bacon, eggs, French toast, grits, and waffles.

"Rena, Rena, look at what us made," Hotaru exclaimed as she ran and jumped into my arms.

"Baby, it's look at what WE made, not us. All this food looks terrific," I eyed all of the food that was laid out on the kitchen table.

"We were just waiting for the biscuits to get done, then we were gonna come and wake you," Darien explained, just as the timer went off.

"YAY, NOW WE CAN EAT," Hotaru squealed.

"Grab a plate and dig in," Darien exclaimed as he got the biscuits out of the oven. I grabbed a plate and made what I thought was going to be Hotaru's plate until I saw that she had gotten Darien to make it, so instead I ate it.

"So... what do you two plan on doing today?" Darien questioned as we all finished eating breakfast.

"I WANNA GO TO THE ZOO!" Hotaru screamed.

"Well I guess that settles that," I chuckled.

"Can Darien come too?"

I shook my head, "I don't think Darien wants too. He probably has other things to do."

"Actually I don't. I would love to go to the zoo with you two. That is... if it's okay with Serena?" Darien cut in.

"It's fine with me, we would love to have you."

"YYYAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY," Hotaru threw her hands up in the air.

"Okay munchkin, let's get you showered and dressed, so we can go," I picked Hotaru up and took her upstairs. After putting her in the shower I found Darien in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"So, what's the deal? Do you really wanna go to the zoo or-," was all I could get out before I was cut off.

"I'll do anything if I get to spend more time with you," Darien backed me up into the wall.

"Oh," I muttered as his lips captured mine.

"All I gotta do, is stop by my place for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Unless you wanna share a shower with me," Darien suggested, right before he kissed me again.

"Something tells me that if I share a shower with you, washing would be the last thing on our minds," I could feel his hands on my waist.

"I think you might be right, Ms. Conner," Darien nipped at my neck.

"I'M DONE NOW," Hotaru yelled down the stairs, effectively ruining the moment.

"ALRIGHT, I'M COMING," I yelled back. I looked back at Darien to find him laughing.

"You two are too much alike," he shook his head.

"Shut up," I snapped as I left the room and made my way back to Hotaru. I dressed her in a light blue sundress and sent her downstairs to Darien, while I showered and washed my hair. 10 minutes later I was out of the shower, I put my hair in a sloppy bun and dressed in a khaki Capris with a pale blue spaghetti strapped shirt, and my matching sandals. I went downstairs and found Darien and Hotaru sitting on the couch watching TV, waiting for me.

"Took you long enough," Darien muttered, as he and Hotaru stood up. Just as I was about to respond to him, Hotaru ran over to me, grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the front door, followed closely by Darien.

"Now we can go," she sang, as I locked the front door and we all walked over to the Escalade and got in. We stopped at Darien's just long enough for him to take a quick shower and change clothes, then we were off to the zoo. Michelle told me once that I looked a lot like her late husband that I could be his little sister, but I never paid it any mind until now. You see, Taru is a spitting image of him, which in turns makes her look like she could be my daughter. For the majority of the day many of the elderly couples made it their point to tell Darien he had a beautiful family. It kidda surprised me, that instead of telling them that I wasn't his wife and Taru wasn't his daughter, he would just agree with them and give me a kiss on the cheek. By the time we left the zoo, Hotaru was exhausted. She had already fallen asleep in Darien's arms as we walked back to the car. He laid her down in the back seat and then we proceeded back to my house.

"Darien, can I ask you something?" He simply nodded his head to let me know he was listening and continued driving.

"Why didn't you correct them? You know, tell them I wasn't your wife and Taru wasn't your daughter."

"I don't know. It didn't really bother me. Why, did you want me to say something?"

"No-no, it's not that. It didn't matter to me either, I just wanted to know," Again he merely nodded his head and continued to drive. Minutes later we pulled back into my driveway. Darien carried Hotaru, while I led the way and unlocked the door. It became apparent that somebody had been home when we walked through the door. The lights and the TV were on and dishes were in the sink.

"Mom's home or at least she was," I exclaimed, looking around the house.

"Do I need to leave?" He asked, still holding Taru.

"Not unless you want too."

"Well, what if your mom comes back?"

"It's 7:00 at night, she's not coming back, not until tomorrow at least. Trust me. I know my mother's schedule. Why don't you take Taru upstairs and put her in my bed, while I order us a pizza. Is pepperoni okay?"

"Sure that's fine," was all he said before disappearing up the stairs.

"Serena, who's Seiya?" Darien questioned after we finished eating our pizza. As soon as the name came out his mouth I knew the color was draining from my face.

"Se-Seiya, where did you hear that from?" I was well aware of the fact that I had started to shake.

"From you. Last night, when you went to sleep, you started to cry and say that name. What did this Seiya do to you?" he pulled me in his lap.

I took one look at his face and knew that I was gonna tell him, so I didn't try and fight it. "He was my boyfriend. The one that made me cry. Before this makeover no guys except for this one guy ever really looked at me unless they were playing a joke on me. Seiya was no different, he was the all-American boy. Played sports, did average in school, and had a lot of friends. Then one day out of the blue he came up to me in the hallway and started to flirt with me, OPENLY. At first I was suspicious, but about a week later when Raye and Beryl started to talk about me, he stood up for me in front of everyone. I thought that if he stood up for me to the most popular girls in school then he must have some like me somewhat, so we started a quiet relationship. It went on for about 7 months before I found out the truth, but by then it was too late because I had already fallen in love with him, along with slept with him. Beryl paid him 150 dollars to seduce me and make me love him, then they were gonna publicly humiliate me in school. But for some reason when Monday came around Beryl didn't do anything and Seiya just denied that it ever happened." Darien wiped my tears away from my face and I could tell by his facial expression, that he was PISSED.

"Where. Is. This. Seiya? Where. Can. I. Find. Him?" he managed to get out.

"He's gone. A month after the breakup some school in Georgia wanted him to play on their team. They promised him he'd get better coverage and way more game time, so he agreed and left. I was all too happy to have him leave. I just kidda buried the experience in the back of my mind but sometimes I have nightmares about it."

"He's one lucky bastard. If he was here I'd kill him. Serena, I'm not gonna lie to you. I really haven't been too faithful in my past relationships but I never really had a reason to be. Not until now, at least. I honestly do like you and I can promise you that I'm never gonna hurt you like that."

"I hope that's true because I don't think that my heart could handle another heartbreak to that magnitude again," I shook my head trying to get the image of Seiya out of it.

"No-no, there is no reason to hope because I won't, I place that on my life," he swore. The look in his eyes was unexplainable and I had no doubts in his sincerity. He pulled me into an innocent kiss that I soon let turn into more as I responded. I felt myself starting to lose control again and I didn't care. He made me feel safe and all I wanted to do was be in arms, so I gave up and stopped fighting it.


	8. Chapter 7

The next morning I woke up to find myself as naked as the day I was born in my mother's bed. Opening my eyes I found Darien watching TV, just as naked as me. I immediately remembered everything from last night.

"Hey beautiful! Sleep well?" he asked, noticing that I was now awake

"You're still here," I whispered, still sleep hazy.

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

I shrugged, "I dunno, I kidda just figured that now that you'd gotten what you wanted, that you would be gone."

"Serena, I told you I'm not looking for a fuck buddy. Shit, I could get one of those any time. I'm interested in you and ONLY YOU. I'm not going anywhere and by the way I had you moaning my name last night, I don't think you want me too either," he whispered into my ear and nipped at my neck. Just as I was about to reply, the door to my mother's room bust open and Taru came running in.

"Rena, I'm hungry. Why is Darien in bed with you?"

"Well-," I began.

"Serena had a nightmare and she asked me to stay with her until she went to sleep. I guess I just ended up falling asleep too," Darien cut in.

"Okay. I'm hungry. Rena can you make your famous chocolate chip pancakes?" Hotaru asked with the undeniable look of hope in her eyes.

"Sure, I'll be down in a minute. So, why don't you go downstairs and watch cartoons while you wait." Hotaru's face all but lit up with the mention of cartoons. She managed a slight nod before she dashed out the room.

"Well...that was almost awkward. Nice save," I turned to face him.

"No problem. I aim to please, princess," he muttered right before his lips captured mine.

"As much as I would love to finish this. I have a hungry child downstairs waiting for food and I'm well aware that if we start this, we won't be finished any time soon," I pointed out as I jumped out of bed and began looking for my pajamas and underwear. I came to realize soon after I was on my feet exactly how soar I was.

Darien noticing my distress, started laughing, "You have a 'hungry' boy in bed too and I can relieve 'that' aching by rubbing the right places," he continued to smile, this time for a different reason.

"A boy, my ass. You're a grown ass man. Now get your ass out of the bed and stop whining or you'll be 'hungry' for a lot longer. "You'd be surprised how fast a grown man could move with the right motivation. Once we were downstairs Darien disappeared into the room with Hotaru and started to watch cartoons. 20 minutes later when I was cooking the last of the pancake batter, strong arms wrapped around my waist and scared the shit out me.

"Calm down, baby it's just me. This smells really good and Hotaru and I wanted to know if it was done yet?"

"Yeah, give me about 2 more minutes. Why don't you and Taru set the table."

"Will do," he left the kitchen and came back a minute later with Taru in his arms. Darien went in the cabinets and got plates and cups and started to set them on the table while Taru went around placing the silverware down. By the time the table was done, so was I and it didn't take us long to dig in. After we finished eating, we retired into the living room, where we spent the day playing Twister, Connect-the-Dots, Checkers, Sorry, and watching TV. At about 8 Darien decided to leave so that he could get ready for work the next day.

Just as Hotaru and I finished eating dinner the phone started to ring.

Ring, Ring, Ring

"Hello"

"Hey Rena, it's Michelle. I need you to do me another favor. Keep Hotaru tonight and drop her off at the daycare in the morning.

"Sure I'll keep her. She's right here and she wants to talk to you," I handed the phone to Taru. I started to put the dishes in the dishwasher, quietly listening to Hotaru go on and on about Darien. A little under 10 minutes later Hotaru gave me the phone back.

"Who the hell is Darien?" Chelle questioned.

"Just some guy that I started dating?" I know Chelle, she wasn't gonna take this very good. She was extremely overprotective. She's like my very own German shepherd.

"He doesn't sound like just some guy by the way Taru explains it. He's been over there for the last 3 days and this morning you two were in bed together."

"We got a little carried away," I began only to be cut off.

"Tell me you didn't have sex with him," Chelle demanded, harshly.

"DAMNIT Chelle, leave it alone. This is my life and I'll do what I want to with it. I knew what I was doing. I wanted it just as much as he did."

"You want me to leave it alone. Why, so you can be some whore that sleeps around?"

"Sleeping with a man does not make me a whore, Chelle," I pointed out.

"It does when you fuck him on the first date." As soon as I heard the words come through the phone, I hung up. She called right back of course, a call I chose to ignore. I was beyond pissed, it took me more than a couple of minutes to calm down and to not wanna cause Chelle bodily harm.

"You okay, Rena?" Taru questioned, concern present in her young little voice.

"Yeah, baby. Let's not worry about me, how about we get you washed and ready for bed," I picked Taru up and took her upstairs. After getting everything done and putting Taru to bed, I called Raye and told her I didn't need a ride to school in the morning.

The next day, I walked into English class and dropped Chelle's car keys on her desk. I knew it was gonna be a bad class, Chelle sat behind her desk with a fierce look in her eyes. The class started out good, but Chelle managed to start a class discussion on sex, whores, hoes and what makes them and I knew immediately that the class had gone down the drain. These kinds of discussions weren't new to this class, Chelle was known for her outspokenness about any and everything and it was rumored throughout the school that she was a lesbian, which only I knew the truth.

"What do you think, Serena? Does sleeping with a guy on the first date make a girl a hoe?" Chelle questioned, a silent egg on that only I recognized.

"What do I think, huh? I think that a dyke should learn to mind her own fucking business," the class became instantly quiet.

"Excuse me!" Chelle hissed, a silent warning in her tone.

"I speak clearly, I don't stutter and I know that you can hear. So I know that you heard what I said, but if you would like me to repeat it, I don't mind. I said, A DYKE SHOULD LEARN TO A MIND HER OWN FUCKING BUSINESS."

"GET OUT OF MY CLASS! OUTSIDE, NOW," Chelle demanded.

"Gladly," I grabbed my books and walked out of my class. Walking through the hallways, I realized that I was way too pissed to stay at school, so I left campus grounds. I don't know how long I walked, but the next thing, I knew, I was in front of Darien's apartment building. Just as I was about to walk away Darien came walking out of the building.

"SERENA?"

"I thought you had to work. What are you doing home and where were you going?" I asked as noticed the keys in his hand as I walked up towards him.

"I was too tired to go in today. I'm trying to recover from my weekend with you and Taru. Oh, I wasn't going anywhere, I was gonna get something out of my truck. But the better question is why are you here and not in school?" he asked. We walked towards his truck, where he retrieved his laptop and some papers.

"My teacher kicked me out of class, so I said fuck it and left," I took hold of the papers to help him out.

"Why would he kick you out?" he questioned as we walked back to his apartment.

"SHE, my teacher also happens to be Hotaru's mother, Michelle. She called last night and talked to Taru, who went on and on about you. She told her how you'd been over my house the last couple of days and that, that morning she found us in bed together. Michelle called me a whore because I slept with you on the first date. I'm not a whore, am I?" tears were blurring my vision.

"You may be some things but a whore is not one of them. And technically that was more like three dates in one," he smiled.

I laughed too, "you're stupid."

"No but seriously, I'm guessing that you and Taru's mother are close. She's probably like a mother to you, right?"

"Sort of, she's more like an older sister."

"Exactly, how do you think you would feel if you had a little sister and you found out she was having sex with some new guy that you knew nothing about? Trust me, you'd be worried especially if you knew her track record with men and exactly how deeply they hurt her. She just doesn't wanna see you hurt again," he claimed, as we entered his apartment.

"So you're saying that she called me a whore and a hoe because she was worried about me?" I asked in disbelief as tears continued to blur my vision.

He shook his head, "As hard as that may be to believe, yeah. When I first found out Raye was having sex, I was cruel and extremely rude. Though all that was directed towards the guy she was doing it with, but in Taru's mother's case she can't confront me. Give her some time and I know she'll come around, so stop crying, you're too pretty for that," Darien wiped away my tears.

"Thanks," I smiled

"Don't mention it, but now that you're here, what do you think we should do?" a grin plastered on his face.

"Nope, not that. I just want to go to sleep. Taru, had a nightmare last night that something was gonna happen to her mother and she couldn't get back to sleep for the longest," I groaned just thinking about it.

"Okay, sleep we can do," Darien picked me up and carried me upstairs into his room. He put me on the bed and started to take off my clothes.

"Darien I told you I just wanted to go to sleep," I whined.

"And you're going to. Just lay down and relax, baby," he whispered into my ear as he laid me down on my stomach in just my bra and panties. He started to massage my body and I felt my tension draining away as I started to drift off.

A little while later I woke up to find myself alone in Darien's room. Looking around the room, I couldn't find my clothes so I put on one of Darien's T-shirts. Wearing Darien's shirt, I realized how much bigger he was than me. The shirt looked ridiculous on me, it went a little past my knees and hung off me loosely. Sitting back on the bed, I heard an argument going on outside the room. I opened the door and walked to the stairs, sat down and listened.

"Come on Darien. You and I were good together, why would you just throw that away?" some woman questioned.

"You're right Jessica, we WERE good together, but not anymore. I have somebody new," Darien began only to be cut off.

"So, you have somebody new, that never stopped you before," the Jessica woman pointed out.

"This one's different. I'm not about to hurt or lose her over you. She actually means something to me."

"Come on Darien, people like us don't believe in commitment. Drop your pretty little princess and come back to me. I mean how long do you think she can hold your interest? A day, a week, let's be real, it won't last and you know it," she mused. 'Ok this chick was really starting to piss me off. He told her he didn't want her and that he had somebody, and she didn't seem to get it.' I got up slowly, walked down the stairs, right into the middle of the argument.

"Is this the one who took you from me? She's nothing more than a child. What are you 13, 14? God Darien, she isn't even legal. Baby, if you come back to me we can forget about this and the police would never have to know," she sneered, giving me a look of utter disdain.

"Look lady, he's not interested, take the HINT before you look any more stupid and desperate begging for a guy that obviously doesn't want you. As for my age, it's none of your business but I'm legal enough where Darien wouldn't catch a charge. Now, I know it must hurt your ego that Darien has chosen a girl at least 15 years your junior but you REALLY NEED TO LET IT GO. Now that, that has been said, you know where the door is, USE IT," I turned to look at Darien and found him staring at me, admiration quite obvious in his eyes. Knowing that she was still watching me, I walked over to Darien and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. I could hear her cry out something then mutter that this wasn't over before I totally gave into the kiss and forgot about our audience.

"You're mine," I stated a couple of minutes after we had finally broke apart.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he grinned and kissed me again.

"Prove it," I whispered. He quickly picked me up and carried me back up to his room and proved it, over and over again. It was later into the night when the phone started to ring, with the two of us still lounging in his bed.

RING

"Answer the phone?" Darien ordered.

RING

"Why do I have to answer it, it's your apartment," I replied.

RING

"You're closer," Darien whinnied.

RING

"Alright you be big baby, I'll answer it," I gave in and reached over and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Serena is that you?" someone asked.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"It's me Raye, you dummy. Mina and I have been looking for you all day and you're at my brother's place. Hold up, why exactly are you at my brother's?"

"Think about it Raye."

"EWWW... that's just gross, Serena. I thought something was going on with you and him but actually knowing is just wrong. I'll talk to you later, I need time to recover," Raye groaned as she hung the phone.

"Your sister is stupid," I chuckled.

"Yeah I know. I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat."

"I don't wanna move. Why don't you go get it and bring it back," I suggested.

"Nope that's not gonna work. Come on lazy ass, get up," Darien decided, getting out of bed. When I didn't move, he pulled the covers back, picked me up and carried me to the shower. He turned on the water and waited a few minutes for it to warm up before he threw me in and jumped in behind me.

A half an hour later, Darien and I pulled into an all-night diner. Getting out the car, we walked hand and hand inside. We sat in a booth near the front door and ordered. As we waited for our food, a shadow came over us. Looking up I found myself face to face with Chelle with Amara standing behind her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Turning to Darien she gave him a look of disgust, "I'm guessing that you're Darien. Do you usually rob cradles or did you make an exception for Serena?" I was so shocked I was at a complete loss of what to do, even Amara was surprised.

"Chelle, why don't you just leave us alone?"

"I will as soon as I have a word with Darien, ALONE." I was about to protest when Darien agreed. He got up and they walked outside, leaving me alone with Amara.

"She's really upset by this, baby girl. Sorry she's being such a bitch," Amara exclaimed.

"So am I. She called me a whore and a hoe. When the people at school call me names, I could care less but coming from her it HURTS."

"I have to admit Chelle is wrong but I don't like the idea of you with this guy anymore than she does, but I'm well aware that this is your life, so who you date is your choice. Just be careful," Amara warned, just as Chelle and Darien came back.

"Rena, can I talk to you for a second?" Chelle questioned. With Darien and Amara telling me to give her another chance with just their eyes and Chelle's pleading, I couldn't help but cave in.

"Sure, why not," I stood up and followed her. She took me to the same exact spot she and Darien were, I could still smell his cologne.

"I'm sorry that I called you a whore and insinuated that you were a hoe. I can't even explain why I said those things."

"It's okay. I'm not gonna lie though, those words hurt a lot coming from you, but I can forgive you as long as it works both ways. What I said in class was uncalled for and I apologize."

"Please Rena, after what I said, I deserved that and more. And as for Darien, he's a good guy. I wouldn't mind you being with him," Chelle admitted.

"Okay, what the hell did you two say to one another? I can expect an apology but for you to say that you're okay with me being with him, something major had to be said. What was is it?"

"That's between Darien and I. Now, I'm going to let you get back to your dinner or better yet your breakfast. Just send Amara out, I'll be waiting by the car," Chelle gave me a hug and walked off. When I walked back inside Darien and Amara seemed to have just ended a heated discussion. The tension at the table was at a ridiculous height, it looked like they could jump up and hit one another any second. As soon as they saw me, they tried to act normal, as if nothing had happened but the tension was still there.

"Amara, Chelle's waiting for you by the car," I exclaimed as I got to the table.

"Thanks, I'll see ya later baby girl," Amara got up from the table and left. Sitting at the table I could tell that Darien was agitated.

"What's wrong baby?" I questioned.

"Have you ever had an interest in girls, I mean on a sexual level?"

"What? Haha" I chuckled but by the look on his face I could tell that he was serious. "No, I have no interest in females whatsoever, they just don't appeal to me. The most I would ever do with a female is be her friend. Why?"

"By the way Amara talks about you, it seems like she was interested in you. Like if she wasn't dating Michelle, you and her would be."

"When she and Michelle were in the first couple of weeks of their relationship, Amara cornered me and asked if she and I had a chance. She said that if we did she would end things with Chelle, but I told her I wasn't into females like that. What can I say I'm a strictly dickly type of girl. It's kinda funny though, I couldn't get a guy to really have a genuine interest in me, but I could a girl. Anyways, she loves Chelle now, so it doesn't matter. She and I just avoid the subject all together."

"Does Michelle know about this?"

"No, so let's keep it between us." Our late night dinner came soon and we ate it with small talk. After we were done, Darien dropped me off at home and I went to bed. The next couple of weeks went by without any hitches. It was the day before Halloween and Mina, Raye, and I were sitting in my living room watching TV and eating junk food when my mom burst in the front door.

"SERENA ALICIA CONNER, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE RIGHT NOW," my mom yelled.

"Hey mom, what's going on? What are you doing home?" I got up and met her in the hall, leaving Raye and Mina to ease drop in the room.

"Ms. Miller, you remember Ms. Miller right, your court appointed therapist? Well Ms. Miller contacted me today at work and told me you haven't met with her in over a month. You're violating the court order, they can take you away from me."

'Damn, I knew that I was suppose to be doing something.' "Mom I don't need a therapist anymore. I'm fine. They're not going to take me away from you just for that," I argued.

"Yes they are, Ms. Miller contacted the courts right before she called me. Either you resume your sessions or they'll take custody. Is that what you want Serena for them to say I'm an unfit mother and take you to a detention center or foster care?"

"No, of course not, mom."

"Excuse me for interrupting. I just wanted to let you know that Serena has still been going to a therapist. I set her up with mine, a Mr. Robinson. I thought that he could help her more than a city appointed one could. I can get the proper documents from him sent to the courts or to this Ms. Miller that you spoke of if that will help to prove it," Raye cut in.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know we had company," my mom exclaimed slightly embarrassed.

"Mom, this is Raye Carter and the blonde hiding behind the wall is Mina Dumont," I introduced. As soon as my mom heard the last name, she gasped.

"You okay mom?"

"Yes, Rena, I'm fine. It's nice to meet you both. Um, what were you saying about Serena going to therapy?" my mom changed the subject somewhat and avoided looking at Mina altogether.

"I said that she's been going to my therapist. I could get him to send the proper documents to courts, if you would like," Raye answered.

"Yes, I would like that, thank you," my mom smiled.

"Mom did you come home just for that?"

"Well yeah, you're my daughter and I don't wanna lose you, but I do need to get back though."

"It's okay mom, you're not gonna lose me. I promise. You don't have to worry about me anymore. I'm a big girl," I hugged her. We had a couple of more words before she had to get back to work and left. Walking back into the living room, I found Raye and Mina waiting for me.

"Why were you going to a therapist?" Mina asked.

"It's not important," I answered.

"Wrong answer, it does matter. WHY?" Raye questioned.


	9. Chapter 8

"I tried to kill Seiya," I admitted.

"Are you serious?" Mina questioned.

"Yeah, why do you think he went to another school? Nah... let me stop lying, I tried to kill myself."

"What?" Mina and Raye gasped.

"This is serious, how can you just joke about it?" Raye questioned.

"Because it's a part of my life that I overcame and became stronger because of."

"Why'd you do it or at least try it to, I mean?" Raye questioned.

"That's simple, you, Beryl and the rest of your crew. You won! You broke me! It was right after that Seiya thing. I thought that I loved him, now I realize that it was probably just infatuation on my part. Anyways, he told me that I was nothing but a piece of ass and that he didn't love me. It broke my heart. I started to think about my life. I wasn't contributing anything to anybody's life let alone mine, and nobody wanted me around so I figured that death would be the best route to take. My mom has these pills, one alone can put a 225-pound man asleep for 6-8 hours, it's like a mild horse tranquilizer. I took the whole damn bottle. Luckily, my brother was home from college on a break and had gotten got sick at a party and decided to come home early and found me. I was taken to the hospital, where they pumped my stomach and made me go through a series of therapy sessions that I'm suppose to continue to take until I turn 18."

"Oh my god, Serena! We treated you like shit and we knew that we were hurting you, but we never wanted you to actually die, let alone even try killing yourself," Raye exclaimed.

"It's okay, actually going through all that made me a stronger person and gave me a new outlook on life," I smiled.

"Serena, that thing with Seiya was ALL BERYL, ALONE. We thought that he was actually interested in you and it hurt our pride that he would choose someone like you over one of us. I mean let's be real, before, you were a nerd, and not an attractive one at that. When Beryl let us in on what she was doing, it was too late and we could tell you'd already fallen for him. We were disgusted with him and Beryl. She went too far and we made her stop. We made sure that she didn't spread the details around the school, either," Mina explained.

"Was it true, about you losing your virginity to him?" Raye questioned.

"No, lucky for me, a guy that actually deserved it, took that from me. Thanks, though for stopping Beryl."

"No problem, I just wish I could have stopped her before any of it happened in the first place." We sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, not sure what to talk about.

"God, I'm sorry for the way we've treated you. You're a good person and you didn't deserve that shit," Raye declared.

"You and Mina have been forgiven but it'll be a COLD DAY in hell when Beryl or anybody else is. How are you going to get a note sent to the courts about a therapist I've never been to?" I changed the subject somewhat.

"My therapist and I had a small fling awhile back and he's still willing to do anything for me. Don't you even worry about it, I'll take care of everything," Raye advised. Deciding to get off this depressing subject, we went back to watching TV and discussing our plans for the big Halloween party tomorrow night.

Walking into school these days is a lot better although I find it completely weird. I wasn't teased anymore, well with the exception of Beryl, but now people didn't look down on me. Everyone knew my name and felt free walking up and talking to me, openly, as if they had known me for ages. Guys surprised me the most though. Not to sound conceited or anything but more than half the male population in the school wanted to date me. They'd wait for me by my locker, carry my books, walk me to class and lunch and even pay for it, anything just to be able to talk to me. True, I was loving the new attention I was getting, but I never forgot how they treated me before, lower than a dog. They acted as if they were nobles of a court and I was the lowly servant that scrubs their toilets, so I simply listen to what they had to say but politely declined on any and all of their offers.

Today was no different, as soon as I walked into school with Raye and Mina, two football players walked up to me, Chris and Troy.

"Hey Serena, are you going to that party tonight?" Troy questioned.

"Yeah, I think. Wait, lets' be clear, which one are you talking about?"

"The one at that club," Troy replied.

"Hellfire, you mean," Chris cut in.

"Yeah that one, thanks man," Troy exclaimed.

"Yeah, we're suppose to be going there, but I can't be too sure. Raye's driving tonight, so you would have to ask her." As Chris opened his mouth to say something, a short girl with long hair so dark it looked blue pushed past us.

"Amy." The girl looked up and I was able to see that her face was red and puffy and that she was crying. She never stopped running and it wasn't long before she disappeared down the hall. I handed my book bag and books to Troy because we have the same class and took off after her. I found her 10 minutes later in our old secret hideout we used during our freshman and sophomore year. A small storage room that the janitors had stopped using many years ago. She sat on the floor crying in front of a broken display model of the Earth.

"What wrong, Amy? What happened?"

"I came to school early to finish my model of Earth for my Environmental Science class and I had to go to the bathroom. When I walked in Beryl was already in there. She remembered that you and I are friends and she took my model and broke it. She said that it was your fault that she broke it, that you should learn your place and not to mess with her. I know it's not your fault, she's just a hateful person. But what am I going to do, this is due today," Amy continued to cried.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure the teacher will give you some extra time to turn it in," I rubbed her back.

"No, she won't. She already told us that we can't turn in extra credit work late, no matter what."

"OH MY GOD, AMY. You're crying over extra credit. I know for a fact that all of your grades are high as hell anyway. Missing one assignment that doesn't even count against you, is not a big deal." Amy taking a minute to think about it, actually stopped crying and started to laugh.

"You're right, Serena. I have a 102 in the class, but all this hard work went down the drain and worst of all, she won't even get in trouble."

"Oh, don't worry, Beryl has hers coming. Nobody messes with my friends, that's a line that she just shouldn't have crossed." I walked Amy to her class and explained the situation to her teacher, who understood all too well because of her own run-ins with Beryl. Walking to my class I couldn't help but get pissed.

'What made her so high and mighty, that she could judge people? What gave her the right to treat people like shit, especially my friends? Amy never did anything to anybody, Beryl had no right to target her just because she's my friend.' I walked into my class and saw Beryl sitting in her desk acting like nothing happened.

"Why Serena, I saw your friend running down the hall, crying. Amy, that's her name right? I hope she's okay," Beryl was acting a little too innocent and fake. Okay, I may have been wrong, but seeing her act like that pissed me off to a new extent and I snapped, I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her up.

"I don't like you. Okay, let's be honest, I can't fucking stand you. I put up with your shit because you're not worth my time or my effort but if you ever mess with any of my friends again. I WILL FUCK YOU UP, no questions asked," I pushed her back as I let her go of her collar, causing her to fall out her desk and on her ass on the floor.

"Ms. Hunter, you saw and heard her, she just assaulted me and threatened to do it again," Beryl cried, standing up.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ms. Watson, I wasn't paying attention. Maybe someone in the class saw something," Ms. Hunter suggested. As Beryl looked around many of my fellow classmates shook their heads, saying no, which totally shocked me. I thought that they'd be on her side.

"You mine as well sit down Beryl because nobody saw anything," Raye sneered.

"I'll get you," Beryl whispered, looking at me as if I should be scared.

"I'll be waiting," I walked to my desk, sat down, and listened to Chelle as she started class.

At lunch, we sat in the courtyard and talked. "So, Serena. What was the deal this morning? What did Beryl do?" Mina questioned.

"She did something to a friend of mine because she's my friend. I don't care what she does to me, but it's just wrong to involve someone that has nothing to do with our conflict between one another," I replied, just as I saw Amy walk into the courtyard. I figured she was looking for me so I waved at her and to prove my point, she started to walk over.

"Hey Serena," Amy muttered, slightly nervous because of the presence of Raye and Mina.

"It's okay, Amy. They're okay. Raye, Mina, this is Amy. Amy this is Raye and Mina." Everyone did their nice to meet you's and shook hands.

"Serena I wanted to know if you wanted to come over tonight and watch horror movies while passing out candy to kids, like last year?"

"Actually Amy, I'm suppose to go to a party," I exclaimed and watched as her face fell, "but why don't you come with us," I added.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not like you guys and I wouldn't fit in," Amy put her head down.

"Wait a minute. What do you mean, you're not like us. What's that suppose to mean?" Mina questioned getting slightly defensive.

"You all are gorgeous and very popular. Have nice clothes that show off your figures and other attributes. I'm nothing like that. The only friend I have IS Serena. I'm just your ordinary ugly nerd, who wears clothes even a homeless person wouldn't wear," Amy continued to look down.

"Amy, you're not ugly," I began only to be cut off.

"Yeah, you look way better than Serena did when she was in nerd mode. She needed a lot of work. I mean she had to go to a professional salon, but all you need is a new hairstyle. No offense or anything but long hair doesn't really fit your facial structure. You could also use some new clothes, a touch of make-up and a whole hell of a lot of self-confidence. Serena was WELL HIDDEN, you on the other hand not so much so-," Mina started.

"Gee, thanks Mina. I'm not sitting right here or anything," I cut in, sarcastically. 'You just got to love Mina's outspokenness and blunt personality.'

"Sorry," Mina muttered.

"Amy, Serena used to hide behind her books, clothes, and glasses but as you can see we brought her out and we'll do the same to you. Meet us at Serena's house today at 4:00," Raye exclaimed, just as the bell rang signally the end of lunch. We all rushed back to our classes and made it back just in time to not receive a tardy. After my confrontation with Beryl, she seemed to have disappeared, so the rest of my day was quiet.

At the end of the day Raye and Mina dropped me off, while they went out to buy our costumes for tonight. Amy being the early bird that she is came over at 3:30 rather than 4:00.

"Serena, I'm not so sure about this," Amy looked so worried. It was kind of funny.

"It'll be okay, Amy. Trust me," I smiled, just as Raye and Mina walked into my house. Considering that I know nothing, what so ever about make-up and fashion I opted to stay in the living room and watch TV, when they dragged Amy into the bathroom. They spent the next 2 and half-hours in there and I could hear Amy constantly protesting about everything, her hair, the make-up, the outfit and shoes they wanted her to wear. It was hilarious.

When Amy finally did come out the bathroom, BOY did she look different. For one I was used to seeing her in the same clothes that I used to wear and now she was standing before me dressed as Marilyn Monroe, in the famous v-cut white dress that was blown up by the wind. She hadn't put on the platinum blonde wig yet and I could see that her long black hair was now gone, now it was short and curly.

"I told you, you weren't ugly," I gloated.

"Thanks," Amy chuckled.

"Now that we're done with Amy, it's your turn," Raye turned to me.

"Nope, I already went through this with Manny," I tried to edge away from Mina and Raye.

"Oh, stop being a little punk, we're just getting you ready for the party, nothing serious. I got the perfect costume for you, I picked it out myself," Mina grabbed my arm, stopping my escape.

"Now I'm really scared," I whispered as Raye and Mina now dragged me into the bathroom, Amy laughing the whole time. TRAITOR! I came out, a little under an hour later dressed as an angel with a matching halo and wings. I had no problem with the costume initially EXCEPT for the fact that it was LOW CUT and WAY TOO SHORT! The silky white dress stopped mid-thigh with wafer-thin straps, crisscross style bodice with matching white ankle strap-up heels. Raye curled all of my hair, while Mina did my make-up along with showering my body and face with white glitter. When they were done, they kicked me out the bathroom so that they could get dressed. They came out a little under 2 hours later.

Mina came out dressed as the devil with her hair straightened and streaked with red. She wore a short red skirt with a red bra and matching jacket, left open to show off the bra. The part that got me was that her outfit was SHORTER THAN MINE, which I didn't even think was possible. She also had a pitchfork and matching horns and tail.

Raye came out as a French maid. She had her hair crippled under her maid hat. The dress was about as short as mine and the apron tied around her waist showed off her butt. She wore black stilettos to ascent her long legs in short, she was every man's fantasy.

"I'm not so sure about this, you guys," Amy muttered, looking down at herself.

"Come on Amy, you only live once mind as well make it count," Raye countered.

"I agree with Amy, sort of, anyways. Mina where the hell did you get these costumes, an xxx-rated type of store? They look like something that came out of a cheap porno movie," I pointed out.

"Ha, see how much you know, a cheap porno movie wouldn't be able to afford these. Besides we have great bodies, we might as well show them off, we're not gonna have them forever," Mina smiled.

"I see your point, but damn, it doesn't have to be this short? For future references you, Mina you are to never pick out any costumes or clothes for me," I began.

"Me too," Amy added.

"Hey, what's wrong with what I pick out?" Mina questioned.

"Mina, I'm glad I have a nice body and all, but everybody doesn't need to see it. It's always good to leave something for the imagination and you never do that. It's too late to pick another costume, so let's just go before I change my mind and refuse to leave the house," I headed to the front door, followed by Amy, Raye and Mina. After locking the door, we all jumped in the car and decided to drive around for a bit before going to the club. As 11:00 rolled around, we had already parked the car and were walking towards the club. I assumed that Raye and Mina knew the bouncer because they walked straight past the end of the line and went right to the front. Just as we were about to walk in, we were stopped.

"Raye, I can't believe you would walk past me without saying hello," the bouncer, a muscle bound browned skinned male exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Marcus, I wasn't thinking. You'll forgive me, right," Raye smiled, placing her hand on his arm. She was the queen of flirting, she could have any man she wanted with just a look and Marcus was no exception.

"Of course! Chad came up here, he tried to get in, but I made sure he didn't," he boasted.

"Thanks! Oh, by the way these are my friends Serena and Amy, you already know Mina," Raye introduced everyone. We went through the whole introduction process and soon we were walking into the club. I thought that we would find a table on the ground floor, but Raye surprised both Amy and I when she directed us to one of the upstairs VIP rooms. As we sat in the VIP room, I found myself increasingly thirsty. The waitress was off somewhere catering to other club patrons so I decided to just go and get my drink.

"Raye, I'm gonna go to the bar and get a drink. I'll be back." She merely shook her head and continued to talk with college guy dressed as a vampire. Just as I finished the coke I ordered, I felt someone pinch my ass. Turning around I found a Zorro grinning from ear to ear. I raised my hand to smack him and right as I was about to let him have it, he caught my hand and yanked me into his arms.

"You've already smacked me enough to last a lifetime, sweetheart," he smirked.

"Darien, you bastard," I laughed.

"Is that any way to treat your boyfriend?"

"When he hides his identify and pinches my ass, yes. What are you doing here?"

"My boys wanted to come tonight, so here I am. I saw you when you walked in, but I wasn't sure if it was you. I've never seen you wear anything like this before. God, you look good!"

"Thanks, baby. The costume is courtesy of Mina."

"Well remind me to thank her," he took my hand and guided me into another VIP room, where his friends were. They were gathered around a table with lots of girls surrounding them. As he walked up holding my hand, many of the girls began to glare at me. I simply shrugged it off and continued to look around the room.

"Guys, I want you to meet Serena. Serena these are the guys, that's Isaiah, Chris, Jason, and Mike," Darien pointed to each guy as he said their name.

"So you're the girl that Darien is ALWAYS talking about. I see why now, you're beautiful," Mike pointed out, the girl sitting beside him tried indiscreetly to elbow him the stomach. 'Jealous much' I thought.

"Thanks," I smiled as Darien sat down in his seat and pulled me onto his lap.

"This is your seat," he whispered into my ear. Darien's friends were nice and funny as hell but after a while I was bored and quite sick of the other girls at the table without dates glaring at me.

"Well, it was nice to meet all of you, but I need to get back to my friends," I exclaimed, cutting into their conversation. Before Darien or anybody could do or say anything, I jumped off his lap and gave him a quick kiss and left the room. As I was walking back to Raye and company, I found my path blocked by none other than Beryl.

"God what the hell do you want, NOW?"

"I would like to see you suffering in pain, but I'll be happy with your complete and utter humiliation," with that said Beryl walked away.

'Well, that was weird, but considering that it's Beryl, it's not surprising,' I thought to myself as I continued on my way.

"What did Beryl want?" Raye questioned.

"She said that she would like to see me suffering in pain, but she'd settle for my humiliation. Some shit like that."

"OH SHIT, I forgot about that."

"Huh, forgot about what?"

"There's this guy, Jay Walker a.k.a. Crash that performs here every Halloween. He picks a 'supposedly' random girl to go on stage, make up a chorus to his freestyle on the spot and sing it in front of everyone. He's one of Beryl's "friends", he's willing to do anything for her since she'll pay him back in the bedroom. She picks the girls knowing that either they can't sing or just can't do it. She chooses girls she can't stand and wants to embarrass, my guess is that's gonna be you."

"OH is that all," I waved it off.

"What you do you mean is that all? She's gonna embarrass you in front of everyone. The last girl that it was done to was so embarrassed that she transferred schools and moved to another state by the next day." Just as I was about to reply, we were interrupted when a dark skinned man, a couple of years older than us walked on stage.


	10. author's note

Hello, this is just a small author's note that I felt should be said to only one person in particular: black guy, so anyone else please disregard this.  
  
First off, you don't know shit about me so don't think that you do just because you read a story that I wrote. Okay, so you don't like my story and quite frankly I could care less because your opinion means absolutely shit to me and that by now means gives you any right to say that disrespect shit to me.   
  
Second, what kind of person decides what they think about a story by another person's views? Apparently, not a strong one. I would rather you not like my story for yourself, rather than like for somebody else's. That doesn't say much about you!  
  
Lastly, you said how would I feel if I was African American? GUESS WHAT? I AM, YOU ASSHOLE! So YOU can kiss MY NATURAL BLACK ASS.  
  
Cosmic_kiss2000  
  
P.S. What story/ stories have you written that make you an expert to say that mine are bad. 


	11. Chapter 9

HOW'S EVERYONE DOING TONIGHT? FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW, IT'S A TRADITION TO BRING A BEAUTIFUL LADY ON STAGE TO SERENADE ME. THAT LADY FOR TONIGHT WILL BE THE ONE DRESSED LIKE AN ANGEL. COULD YOU PLEASE COME TO THE STAGE? Looking around the room, I was actually shocked to find out that I was the only angel in the building. Everyone in the room started to stare at me, most of them giving me looks of pity. It was clear that they didn't think that I could do it. I couldn't wait to prove them wrong. As I began to walk to the stage, the whole crowd parted like the red sea.

"Don't do it, Serena," Raye grabbed my hand to stop me.

"Trust me, Raye. I know what I'm doing. Just sit back and watch the show," I gave her a smile before I began to walk to the stage again. Once I got up there, the guy handed me, my own mic and began to explain the rules.

"Imma do a verse from a song I've made and as my verse comes to an end, you have to make up a chorus and sing it on the spot. It has to be on beat with the music and actually go with what I was spitting before. I'm also gonna turn to you later in the performance and you'll have your own little time to sing a part that you've make up. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Well, then, let's get this show on the road," he signaled for the music to began and the show started.

Crash

Yo...

Now when I first met her all I thought was "Thong thong-thong"

like, "Lose the lame, we can get our freakin on"

Baby know the game, slip away, and slide me yo' number

It's the last day of spring, see you first day this summer

I'm a bad motha; shut yo' mouth! Pull the drop out and

creep at a low speed, cause homey probably know me

I push the pedal, thoughts of your stiletto

way up in the air like I think he's here

Cause see, every time that I'm alone with you

Homey be checkin up on

But if that nigga only knew

You've got a lot of freak in you, ba-byyy

Well now it's startin to rain, I pop the roof and the champagne

How Jay said? "Money Ain't a Thing"

It's been close a few, at times even impossible

But, it's been between me and you, ba-byyy

He motioned for me to get ready, but little did he know that I was already, ready. This was too easy. My ex-boyfriend, Malcolm wrote a song a few years back and the chorus for that song fit perfectly for this one. I guess that could be considered cheating, but hey me getting picked wasn't random. The only reason I was even chosen was because Beryl didn't think that I could do it and that she wanted to embarrass me, so it seemed fair to me.

Chorus-Serena

Now every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you

Cause every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you, ba-byyy

Crash

Girl it's on again, every year - we hummer 'em in

Beaches, houses, hoes, foes, friends

And when the, day ends - that's when it all begins

You wit him? Here's my room key; holla at me

While you thinka-think I'ma hit it up

then look at the nigga you thinkin you love? C'mon love

We could go there, me and you, creep off all night

If you love it, in the mornin, awake with new light

If you lookin like I ain't gonna handle his

Let me handle my bizz, it is what it is

Nigga livin his liiiife, and that's my bitch

You know I gotta wiiiife, let's keep this thing tight, ba-byyy

Chorus-Serena

Now every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you

Cause every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you, ba-byyy

Crash

Don't let the word get out (shhh), ba-byyy

This is - strictly between me and you, ba-byyy

If they - knew we were doin what we were doin it'd probably ruin

our creep away summer in Cancun'n-and I, love

the way we get away, throw away a whole day

Turn off the pagers and phones, we in the zone like

"Fuck liife, we live liife

This is our liife, live your liife"

Serena

Cause see, every time that I'm alone with you

Shorty be checkin up on you

But if baby girl only knew

You've got a lot of freak in you, ba-byyy

Crash

Did I ever tell you, my man love what you do

That little thing with yo' tongue; you the best, who knew?

It's been close a few, at times even impossible

But, it's been between me and you, ba-byyy

Chorus-Serena

Now every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you

Cause every little thing that we do

Should be between me and you

The freaky things that we do

Let's keep between me and you, ba-byyy

(That we do)

(Me and you)

(That we do)

(Me and you)

(That we do)

(Me and you)

(That we do)

(Me and you)

As we finished the song the room was extremely quiet. It was easy to tell that people were surprised if not completely shell shocked that I could do it. First Raye started clapping, then Amy and Mina, until everyone in the whole damn club.

"WE HAVE OUR FIRST PERSON THAT HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO IT IN FOUR YEARS. EVERYONE GIVE HER A HAND!" Crash took my hand and we bowed. As the crowd continued to applauded, he pulled me off the stage. I didn't know what to expect. I figured that now that we were out of public view, he was going to yell at me or something, but as it turned out, I was wrong.

"You surprised me and a couple of hundred people out there. I'm not gonna lie to you, I really didn't think that you would actually be able to do it. You've got a beautiful voice. You kidda got a Christina Aguilera type of thing going on," he pointed out.

"And what's that?"

"Small woman with a surprisingly soulful voice. The direction you took the song in was really good. You have a great talent, have you ever thought about pursuing a career in music?"

"No, not really," I replied, just as Beryl walked up on us.

"What's the deal, Jay? You were suppose to make her look bad, not like the next 'American Idol." Beryl was pissed. I swear I could almost see steam coming from her ears.

"Beryl, not now, this is business," Crash turned his back on her.

"What the fuck do you mean "this is business." We had a deal."

"Beryl, you can't make someone look bad, if they actually have the talent to do the act. Now, I care about you, you know that, but business is money, and money talks, so I need to speak with her alone," he didn't bother to even look at her.

"I'm still gonna get you," she threatened, before walking away.

"I'm oh so scared," I pretended to start shaking, emphasizing on what I said.

"Well, my brother and I own this club along with a few others. We're looking for someone to sing during the week and on some weekends. You've got a wonderful voice and I think it should be heard. Even if you don't wanna sing in our clubs, you should give me a call. I could use you on a few of my other songs. Here's my brother's card, I'll tell him about you. And this is my card. It has both my cell numbers and my house number. Think about all of this and give either me or my brother a call," Crash handed me the cards before he walked away. I started to walk back to the VIP room until Raye, Amy, and Mina bombarded me.

"That was fantastic, Serena! I didn't know you could sing like that," Raye muttered.

"Didn't ya'll ever wonder who used to sing the national anthem at the football games," I asked.

"Nah, we just figured it was some random girl that was on the school choir. You did great up there, you should be in the talent show with us this year," Mina suggested.

"Let me think about it," I replied as someone slipped their arms around my waist. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Darien.

"How did I not know you could sing like that?" he nipped my ear.

"It never came up and I never thought that I'd be singing in front of a people again so it didn't seem important."

"Oh, it's very important, you see. I've made you scream for me, now I'll have the pleasure of having you sing for me," he whispered, which didn't help because Raye, Mina and Amy still heard.

"Wow, that's disgusting. That's way TMI," Raye started to gag.

We stayed in the club for about another 2 hours before we decided to take the party to Raye and Darien's house since their parents were in Paris. Throw Darien's and Raye's friends together and you get a pretty nice party but throw in large amounts of alcohol, weed and ecstasy, and music and it changed from a party to a full-blown orgy. People were kissing and fucking anywhere they could, bathrooms, bedrooms, hell even in the middle of the hall. I wasn't feeling the party so I opted to stay in Darien's old room and watch movies with him, while he held me.

The next morning, I awoke to find myself alone in bed. "About time!" Darien exclaimed as I sat up.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's almost 2 in the afternoon and you're now just waking up. Shit, I even tried to wake you up and that experience just hurt my pride," he laughed.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Well, I wanted to go out to breakfast this morning and you wouldn't wake up. I tried calling your name, poking and shaking you and you just would not wake up. I finally tried to move you by picking you up and you woke up just enough to flip me on the bed, lay on top of me and go right back to sleep. I played a little football in college and not one person was able to do what you did. I don't know whether I should be proud or embarrassed that my girl can do that," he chuckled.

"Haha, I'm sorry about that. I'm my brother's baby sister, everything he knows he taught me. So, when he got on the wrestling team, he taught me everything he learned. I'm sorry to bruise your ego, baby," I got out of the bed and dragged the covers with me.

"Where are you going?" Darien grabbed the covers from me, leaving me standing in the middle of his bedroom naked.

"Ahhh, stop playing and give me back the covers. I'm about to go take a shower," I grabbed the covers back.

"Who's playing sweetheart? You realize that I've seen every part of you, right, so there's no point in covering up with my covers?"

"Yeah, but I'm still self-conscious and that was different." We began to play tug of war with the covers. I'm not a stupid girl, so it didn't take me long to realize that with Darien's strength, I had very little chance of winning unless I got hella lucky. Suddenly an idea popped into my head and I walked closer to him and kissed him. As he got more and more into the kiss, his grip on the covers lessened and I ripped the covers from his hand.

"HAHAHA, I'm victorious," I boasted as I made a mad dash to the bathroom with Darien right on my ass. I managed to get in there without Darien catching me. After locking the door, I got into the shower and began the wonderful task of cleaning myself. As I was just about done, I felt someone behind me and that person suddenly grabbed me. All I could get out was a short scream before I heard Darien's calming voice.

"Calm down, baby. It's just me," Darien whispered.

"WHAT THE? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN HERE, I know I locked the door," I tried to calm my still racing heart.

"That my dear would be the ingenious invention called a key," he smirked, dangling a set of keys in my face before he threw them outside the shower.

"Oh," was all I got out before he cupped my face and kissed me.

"You look so cute," he kissed me again and you can kinda figure what that led to.

When Darien and I finished our shower and put clothes on, we made our way downstairs where we found Mina and Raye lounging around the pool drinking pina coladas, while Amy read a book.

"Hey Amy, what are you still doing here?"

"Oh, well last night Raye made me call my mom and ask if I could stay over. I think she was so happy that I had another friend besides you that she let me stay."

"Well, doesn't that just put my self-esteem high up there and here I thought you're mom liked me," I muttered, sarcastically.

"It's not like that. She just knows that you're my only friend, so I think she's happy I'm making more."

"I suppose," shrugging, I took a seat beside her.

"Hey, you guys missed one hell of a party last night," Raye chuckled.

"Yeah, it would seem so. We heard most of it though, but we had our own little party and in my opinion, ours was better even though we just watched TV," he smiled as he sat behind me as he placed his arms around me.

"That would be so cute if you weren't my brother," Raye pretended to gag. Mina and Amy held back their laughter, while I just outright laughed.

"I love you too, Raye," Darien replied sarcastically right before his cell phone began going off.

"Yes? No, told you. I want complete control. Either he'll give it up or I'll take it. It makes no matter to me. His company is falling apart and I don't want to have to rebuild everything when I seize control. I also want those reports from the home office on my desk in 20 minutes. Alright, I'm coming in," he hung up his phone.

"Hey baby, I gotta to go to the office. I'll call you later tonight, alright?" Darien kissed my cheek before he left.

"If you ever tell him, I told you this, I'll deny it, but you two are really cute together and the fact that he really cares about you is sweet." Raye smiled.

"How can you tell?" I was already blushing. I made no effort to try and hide it.

Raye shrugged, "It's obvious or maybe it's because I've known him for the last 18 years. It's the little things that he does. Like public affection, my brother never does that. Whether it's a hug, a kiss, holding hands, he just doesn't do it. He also checks things out with you and lets you know what he's doing? He usually doesn't tell anybody anything, we just look up and he's gone. Then there's the simple fact that you two are still together a month and some change later."

"Now that one I can vouch for. For as long as I've known Darien I've never known for him to keep one girl for longer than 2 weeks let alone a month," Mina cut in.

"But enough of that, I need to pick up a few things, let's go to the mall," Raye stood up.

"Sure, I don't care" I too stood back up.

"I have some studying to do, could ya'll just drop me off at home?" Amy asked.

"Nope, not gonna work, we're all going?" I interjected.

"No offense, you need to get some new clothes, so you're definitely coming with us. Your mom is one of the best plastic surgeons in California, so I know that you can afford an updated wardrobe," Mina exclaimed and then we were off.

We spent the most of the day there, while Mina and Raye schooled both Amy and I about the fashion dos and don'ts.

The next couple of weeks were uninteresting. Beryl was barely in school, rumor had it that she was pregnant, but who knows? For the sake of a child, I really hope that she wasn't and that it really was just a rumor. Darien and I are still doing great, no problems as of yet. Amy, Mina, and Raye are also doing great.

Having Raye and Mina around made it easier to get Amy to go out and have some fun. We all just gang up on her and drag her with us anyway.

Mina has become the captain of the cheerleading squad after the past captain "mysteriously" got food poisoning. I know what you're thinking but honestly, I or rather we had nothing to do with her poisoning, we just took advantage of it. She had it coming anyway so I'm not crying over split milk. With the captain temporarily out of commission, Mina showed off her talents and showed them who really deserved the position.

Raye, I got her passing all of her classes with either a high B or C. But enough of the lives of my friends and I because Thanksgiving is almost here and I can't wait! Just two more days and I'll be eating like I haven't eaten in a couple of weeks. Yeah, unfortunately I'm gonna have to cook everything but it'll be worth it. I hope!

I was just waking up when the smell of burning food met my nose. I looked at the clock and noticed that even with my mom's messed up schedule, she still wouldn't be home for another 3 or 4 hours, if she even decided to come home. So, that left one question. 'Who the hell was in my house?' I asked myself. I slowly and very quietly got out of my bed and got another one of my brother's bats out of my closet and crept downstairs. Just as I was about to walk into the kitchen, someone walked out.

"OH SHIT, you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?" the intruder questioned.


	12. Chapter 10

"JOSH, what the hell? Fuck giving you a heart attack, you almost gave me one," I put my bat down and grabbed my chest, it was racing!

"Says the girl with the bat ready to swing on the unsuspecting and clearly defenseless young but very good-looking man," my brother smiled as he crossed his arms. We sized each other up for a moment before I ran and jumped on him. My brother and I haven't always had the best relationship in the past but we're pretty tight now. When I was younger, I was extremely jealous and bitter and he just didn't care so we basically ended up being strangers that just happened to live under the same roof. My sophomore year, his senior year was when our relationship changed. To this day I think he was ashamed that he was related to me because I was scared of the "populars" and I let them walk all over me. Looking back at it, I was truly pathetic and I don't think he wanted to be associated with me because of it. But when I started to stand up for myself he developed a new found respect for me, which resulted in him defending me as well. As long as my brother was around none of the "populars" would so much as look at me the wrong way. I don't know if he ever knew what they did when he wasn't around but I had too much pride to tell him, so who knows? Since Josh plays football on a college level, he's really busy these days and we aren't as close as we could be but I'm not complaining. I like where our relationship is and I wouldn't want to change it for anything.

"I didn't know you would be coming home," I exclaimed, letting him go.

"Please, I know mom is gonna be working, getting that time and a half and I can't have my little sister eating Thanksgiving alone. Though, the thought of your cooking alone would have brought me home," he sighed, blissfully and I could just imagine his greedy ass at the table tomorrow eating up everything.

"Now, that's true. The thought of your food brought me back," another voice cut in as he walked out of the kitchen.

"OH MY GOD, MAL," by the time I finished saying his name, I was already hugging the hell out of him. "I've missed you so much," then I smacked him, it wasn't a hard one or anything, just a playful one. "Why has it taken you so long to come back? Doesn't matter, I'm glad you're here," I continued to gush on and on like that for a few more minutes before I could actually calm down.

"I've missed you too. What inspired the change 'lil' one?" That's his special nickname for me. It always made me go weak at the knees, surprisingly though, not this time. Thinking about what he said, I realized he was referring to my new look when he said change.

I shrugged, "Oh, my friend thought it was time for a makeover and well…I guess I was sick of being the ugly duckling."

"You weren't ugly. You didn't need to change," he exclaimed, moving some of my hair behind my ear.

Are you confused, yet? Let me explain Malcolm Edward Buxton, Mal for short was my first boyfriend, the one that took my virginity and deserved it, wholeheartedly. He came from a rich family that my mother was once the housekeeper for. When Mal decided that he didn't want to run the family business and wanted to have a career in the music industry, writing and producing songs, his father kicked him out. He came to live with the only woman that cared about him rather than his trust fund, my mother. I developed a serious crush on him fast. I started making excuses just to spend time with him. He was the reason I found out that I could sing but that's another story, I'll explain later. After realizing that I could sing, he enlisted my help on a few of his projects. With us working so close together for so long took its toll on me. I confessed to him one night that I like him and impulsively kissed him. I ran away from him after that fully aware that I had just made a fool of myself but to my surprise he came after me and HE KISSED me this time and said that he felt the same way. I thought he was playing with my emotions at first, I mean he looks good as hell. He's one of the guys you'd see in a Calvin Klein ad and fantasize about but would never in life have a real chance with, so why the hell did he like me? He assured me it wasn't a joke and by the end of that night he was my very first boyfriend. Mal saw me for who I was and not who I should be. It never mattered to him that I wasn't the best looking girl and that I didn't dress in the latest fashions. He never once looked down on me as if he was worth more because he came from money and I easily fell in love with him. We went out for most of my sophomore year and the beginning of summer. We broke up when he decided to move to New York permanently to pursue his dream of becoming a music producer. It hurt like hell to let him go but I didn't want to hold him back. He wrote letters and called everyday but as time went on the calls and letters became less and less. I didn't mind though, Mal is a wonderful man and I'm glad that I had him for so long. I've never regretted anything when it came to Mal and I still don't. He was my rock when everything else was wrong or going wrong.

"Thanks, Mal but you're just saying that. I know I was ugly." I shrugged, "I'm over it now, it's in the past."

Mal opened his mouth to reply but my brother cut him off before he could even manage a word.

"While I'm happy that you want to tell my sister how ugly she never was Mal, the fact remains that I'm still hungry and neither one of us can cook." He turns to me, "so could you be the best little sister in the world and cook me some breakfast. I'm not asking for too much, your famous pancakes, some eggs, maybe a little bacon."

I smiled, "you know I got you but ya'll gotta wash the dishes," I walked past them into the kitchen. A little more than 30 minutes later we were all sitting at the table eating pancakes, bacon, eggs, grits, and homemade biscuits while Mal and Josh filled me in on their lives.

Josh is doing extremely well in football. Though he's not the starter for the team, he gets more than enough game time. My brother has determination, he goes to every practice early and leaves later, making sure he understands each play and exactly how to run it. He basically lives and breathes football, a great quality since he wants to go to the NFL. And apparently his coach believes he has the talent to go pro, he just needs a little grooming which the coach is more than willing to provide. My brother wants to give us a better life so he's making sure nothing gets in his way.

Mal's doing just as great in the music world. Four songs he helped to produce were currently on the top ten charts. Two songs he himself had written were sold to the highest bidder. He wasn't able to disclose which R&B artist would be putting their voice to his words, but that he would let us know. He also said that he has a surprise for the family but we would have to wait to find out what it was. Mal's a vault when it comes to secrets and surprises, there would be no point in trying to get him to tell, so Josh and I didn't even bother.

After we finished eating, the boys washed the dishes while I showered and dressed. We all lounged around the living room watching TV way into the afternoon. Mal and Josh fought over the remote like always while I just waited for the perfect opportunity to take it myself. I got my chance not too long later when they started to wrestle. I quickly and very quietly reached over and grabbed the disregarded remote and turned to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I love that show!

"HEY," they yelled in unison once they realized that I had the remote. It had only taken them about five minutes to realize what I had done, that's pretty good for them considering it usually it takes them about 20. I had to laugh, I miss the old days! The boys detangled themselves from one another and began to advance towards me.

I slowly got up and began backing away from them, "you guys weren't even watching the TV, ya'll were playing around." They shared a look with one another before they smirked at me. Just as they took another step towards me the doorbell rang and after losing rock, paper, scissors for the third time, Mal went and got the door. He came back with Raye drooling at his heels.

"Hey chica," she exclaimed, sitting down beside me. She was eyeing both my brother and Mal. She was attracted to both it was obvious and to prove my point she had already started flirting. "Serena, you haven't introduced me to your friend. I know your brother. Josh, am I right?" she batted her eyelashes and used a silky tone of voice that I'd never heard from her before.

My brother was well experienced with women but I wouldn't call him a playa so, I assumed that he would be no match for Raye, I mean she was a veteran at the game. I was pretty sure she could teach him some things but surprisingly enough, 10 minutes into the conversation and it was Raye that was looking like a love sick puppy and not my brother. She was hanging on his every word and my brother was enjoying every minute of it. They both were completely ignoring Mal and I as they continued to flirt.

"Raye, what brought you over here," I questioned, finally able to cut into their conversation.

"Oh right! Well, I was coming over to invite you to my house for Thanksgiving. I figured your mom would be working and I didn't want you to be alone," she explained.

"Awww, that was swe-," was all I could get out before Josh cut me off.

"Why don't you come over here instead? Rena's gonna cook more than enough and her food is good as shit."

"That would be great. I could give the cook the day off. Wait, what about Darien?" She looked real perplexed.

"Darien?" my brother repeated. You could tell by the way he said the name that he wasn't too fond of who Darien could be. I toyed with the idea of playing with his head but Raye ruined that idea before I could completely settle on it.

"Darien's my older brother. Our parents are out of the country and my brother and I were planning to eat together. I couldn't just leave him out."

"Darien's welcome to come. He already knows that, but I'll be sure to remind him later," I cut in. With the problem resolved Raye and my brother once again forgot about Mal and I and went back to flirting. Now becoming slightly nauseated with their spectacle, Mal and I excused ourselves not that they even noticed and made our way to the grocery store. We walked around the store and picked up everything we wanted for Thanksgiving. By the time we began checking out we had a little of everything: turkey, ham, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, candy yams, cabbage, greens, green beans, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and everything needed for sweet potato and apple pies. Mal paid for all the food and we made our way back to the house.

Pulling into the driveway, we found Raye's car still parked outside the house but no sign of her or my brother once we walked inside. After we brought in all the groceries, I went searching for her and my brother, leaving Mal began to put away all the food. As I neared my brother's room, I heard the unmistakable sound of his bed creaking and Raye moaning. It didn't take a genius to realize what was going down inside the room. I turned around and walked back downstairs. Looking at my face when I entered the kitchen, Mal busted out laughing.

"I'm guessing you found them." Before I could even attempt to reply Raye and my brother got louder. And to make matters worse, Raye proved to be a very VERY VOCAL girl. Mal found this hilarious, me not so much so. Mal and I managed to put away the rest of the groceries before we could take no more and decided to leave.

Mal dropped me off at Darien's apartment while he went to visit his little brother. Darien wasn't there so I let myself in with the key he had given me a few weeks ago. I was still tired from staying up all night to watch a CSI: Miami marathon that I just stripped down to my bra and panties and got into his bed. I did try and watch a movie but it wasn't long before I gave up that battle and fell asleep.

I woke up some time later when someone slipped into bed with me. I opened my eyes slightly to see a head of brown hair and green eyes, so it damn sure wasn't Darien. I did what any normal 17 year-old-girl would do, I screamed loud as shit and pushed him out the bed. To his credit, the guy didn't land on his back like I would have liked, instead on his hands and knees. He was back on his feet in a matter of seconds flashing me with his white Colgate smile. Just as I was about to start freaking, Darien came rushing in.

"What the hell is going on?" He saw that I was in the bed and asked, "Baby, what are you doing here?" But before I could reply, he noticed the guy still standing there and turned to him, "Nick, why the fuck are you in my room?"

The guy shrugged and crossed his arms, "you said that I could crash."

"Yeah, crash on the couch or in the guest room not in my bed."

"That couch is stiff as shit and the guest room is too damn bland, makes me feel like I'm in a hospital room. I figured you wouldn't mind if I crashed in your bed. I mean I'm not asking for a lot, just your bed." I had to smile, the guy sounded like he was actually hurt that Darien was truly opposed to the idea.

"The last time I let you borrow something of mine you wrapped it around a telephone pole. Did you honestly think I'd let you borrow anything of mine after that?" Darien chuckled. "I'm scared to let you borrow a dollar. Who knows what you would or could do with it? Now, carry your ass to the guest room."

"Damn this is how you treat family. That's foul. I've been looking out for you since we were little kids and you won't even let me stay in your bed. What kind of cousin are you?" Nick smirked, looking all hurt this time.

Darien continued to chuckle as he shook his head, "you're so full of shit, man. Even if I would give you my bed, I damn sure wouldn't with my girl in it. Why would you even get in there if you saw her?"

"I dunno, thought you'd share her too." Darien made a face that I wasn't able to decipher before his face went blank but apparently Nick could because he looked a little shocked for a split second, "you never had a problem sharing before. How was I suppose to know that it had changed?"

"Well, now you know. Things are different and that doesn't happen anymore."

Wow, I had to look at Darien in a new light, now. I knew he was a playa, but I didn't think he was a straight dog. He and his cousin, probably even his friends too, they used to all share girls, pass them around like they were candy. That was wrong and NASTY. Then again if the girl let herself get passed around that didn't say that much for the type of woman she was so I couldn't really care that much.

"Shit, I guess you really did settle down. When the boys told me, I thought they were bullshi-," I had to cut him off at this point I just realized that I was still in my underwear.

"This is all great and all but could you'll take it outside so I can put my cloths back on."

"Or you could just give us a little show," Nick countered.

Darien smacked him upside his head before I could even begin to respond. "GET OUT," he demanded, shoving Nick toward the door. "Sorry about that. He's an asshole, but he's family."

"Naw, he's okay. Just scared the hell out of me! I thought he was you until I saw his eyes," I replied, getting out the bed to kiss him.

"What are you doing over here anyway?"

"Well, my brother came home for Thanksgiving and he and a female friend became engaged in some "physical activity." The girl turned out to be very vocal and I couldn't stand it, so I came over here," I explained, grimacing as I remembered Raye screaming my brother's name. I had the strong urge to throw up.

Once again like Mal, Darien started laughing as he watched my face change. "Sorry, you had to experience that but since you're here, you can eat with us. I'm making my grandmother's recipe for spaghetti and meatballs.

"Is it good?"

"Come on, I'm cooking it. Anything I cook is bound to be good," he smiled, handing me my clothes.

Dinner didn't turn out quite exactly how one would assume. The main reason being, that Darien and Nick got into a big argument about what their grandmother put into her sauce. Nick said she put in sugar and Darien argued she didn't. Somehow, during the course of the argument, the sauce ended up on the floor and splattering all over someone. Guess who? Yeah, it was me and I was pissed. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't mad that I was covered in spaghetti sauce, okay I wasn't THAT mad I was covered in sauce. What pissed me off was one, none, not one drop of it got on Darien or Nick, two, they looked at me and started laughing and three, while they laughed Darien told Nick it was his fault and he had to clean it up and that started yet another argument. At risk of sounding like my mother, I snapped, "stop acting your shoes sizes and act your damn ages. The shit fell because of both of you so both of you clean the shit up. I'm going to take a shower, be done by the time I get back," I warned, walking towards the door. "And no arguing," I added at the doorway and then I was gone.

"I like her, she's gonna keep you on your toes," I heard Nick say before I was completely out of earshot. I didn't wait around to hear Darien's reply, I had to get out these clothes. I took a shower and dressed in one of Darien's ball shorts and a wife beater. I figured they'd still be cleaning so I went to the kitchen first. It was completely clean and the guys were nowhere in sight. I heard them talking and followed their voices to find Nick and Darien sitting in the living room watching ESPN, eating hotdogs and fries. I sat down beside Darien and stole a fry.

"Hey, that's mine. Your plate is in the microwave, go get it," he whined, moving away from me.

"You are such a baby," I laughed, getting up to get my plate. After warming it up and drenching it all in ketchup I made my way back to the living room, where the boys were starting a game of Madden on the playstation 3.

"A 100 says you still can't beat me," Nick jumped up and slammed the bill on the coffee table.

"Aight," Darien took a 100 out his wallet and placed it with Nick's and that's all it took for them to tune out reality.

Five hours later and 600 dollars richer Darien got up smiling from ear to ear. Nick was sulking on the couch but that's understandable he'd just lost 600 playing Madden. I felt a little bad for him but then again I told him after game 3 to stop but he refused. To make matters worse, not only did he lose the game but Darien straight demolished him. The fourth game, Darien beat him by 22 points and the last game, the score was so bad, I can't even mention it. After stretching, Darien pulled me off the couch and gave me a kiss, "You staying here tonight?" He looked so hopeful, like a little kid at Christmas. I couldn't destroy that.

"Yeah, but you gotta bring me home early tomorrow. I gotta cook Thanksgiving dinner."

"You're not eating with us?"

"Guess she didn't tell you," seeing him shake his head, I continued on. "Raye gave ya'll cook the day off so you could eat with me, my brother and a friend."

"That works for me. Nick's gonna come, that cool?"

"Of course, it's cool! Why wouldn't it be," Nick cut in. I had to laugh, the guy was goofy. One minute he's sad as hell and the next laughing and joking. I decided I liked him.

"Yeah, that's fine. We have a lot of food so the more the merrier," I chuckled.

"Aight, well I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when ya'll are getting ready to leave," Nick exclaimed, yawning as he left the room. Darien turned around, picked his winnings off the coffee table and handed them to me.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm giving you the money."

I shook my head, "why, I didn't ask for it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I know but I don't need it, just took it from him to prove I could. Just take it and spend it on something you like," he took the money from my hand and tucked it in the pockets of the shorts I was wearing. It surprises me sometimes how sweet a reform man whore could be.

"Thanks," I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. He kissed me back of course and I felt his hand squeezing my ass as he pulled me closer.

"Let's go to bed," he grabbed my hand and we walked to his room

In the early hours of the morning, I find myself laying across Darien, well because of our sweat, I'm stuck across him. We were trying to catch our breaths and rest when Mal suddenly popped in my mind. I couldn't decide if I should tell him about Mal and I or just leave it alone. I opted to tell him, I mean if the situation was switched I'd want to know.

"Darien."

"Hmmm," his way of letting me know he was listening.

"You remember when I said Raye gave ya'll cook the day off so you and her could eat with me, my brother and a friend. Well that friend I was talking about is my ex-boyfriend. He was the one before Seiya that took my virginity," I felt him go completely rigid.

"And…" he probed.

"And nothing, I just wanted to tell you who he was so you wouldn't find out tomorrow and be uncomfortable or something," I looked up to find him staring down at me.

"Is this something I should worry about?"

"No, it's nothing."

"You sure?" he looked real skeptical.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm yours and that's how I like it," I sat up and kissed him. I wanted him to be sure he was what I wanted.

As the kissed end he put our foreheads together and smiled at me. "I believe you but unless you're ready for round three, you should lay back down."

Laughing at him, I put my hand on him, followed by my mouth. I heard his gasp harshly and then round three began.

We got to my house a little before seven. Raye's car was stilled parked outside but it was so early Darien didn't notice it. As we got out the car I wondered if I should have warned him about my brother and his sister because he was in for a real shocker when everyone got up.

"Where can I sleep?" Nick questioned as we walked in the house.

"My mother's room, upstairs, second door on your left. Knock first, just in case." He didn't bother to respond, just nodded his head and followed my directions.

Yawning, Darien asked, "What do you need to do?" showing just how much he wanted to be sleeping right now.

"I need to wash the cabbage and collard greens and put them on to cook. I need to season the turkey and ham and put them in the oven. Need to get started on the pies. I mean there's a lot."

"I'll wash the cabbage and greens."

"You can go to sleep, baby. I can do this."

"I'm pretty sure you can but I rather help. It'll go faster then we can both go to back to sleep," he explained, walking past me into the kitchen. We both got to work and a little over an hour later and everything was done. The ham and turkey were in the oven. The cabbage and greens were on the stove on low and everything was prepped for later.

Darien and I were washing dishes quietly when he suddenly flicked suds on me. I in turn threw a cup of water on him and thus the water war began. I had long ago started shrieking but didn't become aware of how loud I was until I heard someone from behind us yell.

"WHAT THE HELL?"


	13. Chapter 11

I turned around to find my mother standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Hi mom!"

"Don't you hi mom me. Why the hell are you messing up my kitchen and who is he?" she questioned. Before I could answer we heard someone coming down the stairs. I looked up past my mother to see my brother wearing only his boxers and Raye wearing one of his t-shirts coming down. I saw my mom shake her head out the corner of my eye and I starting laughing because I knew she was about to go into a rant.

"I don't know what I did wrong. One child is acting like a 6 year old and having a water fight in my kitchen and the other apparently thinks my house is a brothel." We heard the front door open and in walks Mal eating an apple. "I have one good child and he's not even mine. I just don't know where I went wrong," she gave us all one last look of disdain before she turned around and walked upstairs. The five of us shared a looked before we bust out laughing. Suddenly Darien caught my attention with his eyes and pointed upstairs. I was clueless, I didn't understand what he was trying to say.

"Nick!" he mouthed

"Oh shit, I forgot all about him." Just as I was about to make a move to warn my mother, she screamed. Darien and I bust out laughing again. I had to admit she sounded just like me when Nick scared the shit out of me. Raye, Josh, and Mal not knowing what was going on stood there looking clueless.

"JOSH AND SERENA! GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE NOW!" she yelled causing Darien and I to laugh even harder. We managed to compose ourselves after a moment or two and followed the others into my mother's bedroom. My mom was standing by her dresser with only a towel covering her body while Nick sat in the bed with a big ass smile plastered on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" Darien asked.

"The women in this family are screamers. I like it," he replied. Darien tried to smack him upside his head but lucky me, I got to him first.

"OWWWW, it's true," he cried, scooting away from me.

"Since you seem to know him so well, Serena why don't you tell me why he's in MY ROOM and MY BED? Better yet who the hell he is?"

"Bed boy is Nick Callahan," I began.

"And water boy is…." She cut in pointing at Darien.

"Darien Carter, his cousin." Upon hearing the last name my mother looked at Raye.

"Yes ma'am he's my brother," Raye answered. "And that's my cousin," she added pointing to Nick.

"And you and Darien are ….." she motioned to the both of us.

"Yes mom, Darien and I are dating." I felt Mal turn to look at me but I refused to meet his gaze.

"And you didn't feel the need to warn me that he was in my bed because… ? Or do you enjoy almost giving your mother a heart attack?"

"I'm sorry mom but when we came back to the house it was real early so I told him that he could crash in your bed. I didn't think you would come home today and I completely forgot he was up there until you screamed," I explained. My mom was cool, she was taking everything in strive.

"Well it was nice to meet all of you but now I need you all gone so I can take a shower. Josh and Raye go put on some clothes and if you plan to spend the night Raye, you'll be sleeping in a separate room. Serena and Darien clean up my kitchen. Mal, you may be grown but you know better than to stay out all night and come strolling in early in the morning like that's ok. Oh and Nick if I ever find you in my room without MY permission again, you'll come up missing," she warned and then shooed us all out. As we all walked down the stairs, I noticed my brother and Mal giving Darien nasty looks. Mal I could understand but Josh, he was doing the same thing with HIS sister. Funny thing is that Darien saw the looks and judging by the smirk across his face, it was clear he didn't give two shits.

"So Darien, how long have you been fucking my sister?"

"JOSH, that's none of your," I began only to have Darien cut me off.

"No, it's ok baby," he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his arms. I looked up at his face and saw that his smile had gotten deeper but that it held a sinister look to it. It scared the shit out of me, it reminded me of the calm before the storm. I knew that this was about to take a nasty turn.

"How long have I been fucking your sister? Well," he took a pause to grab my ass only adding fuel to the fire and continued on. "That's a good question. I've got an even better one for you. How long have you been fucking mine? How long have you even known her?"

"Darien!" Raye looked mortified. I looked at Darien and realized by the glint in his eyes he was deliberately trying to piss my brother off. He was succeeding that much was apparent but he was pissing Mal off as well and that could lead to an even bigger problem. My brother looked ready to kill Darien, Mal too for that matter. I knew if I didn't de-escalate this situation soon, someone would be leaving in handcuffs.

"Darien please don't do this. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I don't wanna deal with all this drama," I whispered as I laid my head on his chest. I instantly felt the tension in his body disappear. I looked at him and saw that he was looking down at me and that his face had softened.

"WOW, you are really whipped!" Nick began. "The Darien I know would never had backed or stepped down."

"Shut the fuck up Nick," Darien exclaimed as he let me go and walked into the living room.

"Hey we're not done here, rich boy" Josh yelled after him.

"You're such a fucking hypocrite. With all that damn noise you and Raye made last night you can't say shit about us." I reprimanded as I followed Darien.

"And you're lucky because rich boy as you call him could have easily beaten your ass. Trust me I know," I heard Nick warn before I was completely out of ear shot.

"Hey what's wrong?" I asked sitting down beside him.

"Nothing, you asked me to stop," was his simple reply.

"But you didn't have to walk away and come in here."

"If I would have stayed your brother and I would have fought and Nick would have jumped in had your ex moved in any direction towards the fight. I have a past with fighting and I'm trying to be a better person but I haven't changed enough where I can just let my anger go. You understand?"

I felt myself shaking my head yes before I even knew I was. "Thank you for being the bigger man," I whispered into his ear as I climbed on his lap. "It meant a lot to me and I'll definitely show you my gratitude later," I promised before I kissed him.

"Could you do that in a room please?"

I ended the kiss to see Nick pretending to throw up. Laughing, I got off Darien's lab. "I'm going to check on the food," I got to my feet and walked towards the door, where I was greeted by a fully clothed Raye, Josh, and Mal. "Don't start shit, Josh," I warned and continued on my way to the kitchen. It wasn't long before Raye joined me. "Do you think it was wise to leave them all alone together?" I asked.

"I'm not sure but there was too much testosterone in the room. It was killing me," she laughed.

"I'm sorry about my brother," we exclaimed in unison after a minute of elapse silence.

"Look at us apologizing for them and we didn't even do anything wrong?" she pointed out.

"Yeah, but isn't that the main role of a woman these days, to fix her man's mistake," I joked.

"You're right," she laughed. "Can I help with anything?"

"You wanna help. Have you ever cooked anything?" I asked.

She smiled again. "I don't know the first thing about cooking or being in the kitchen but I want to do something. I don't feel like a real woman."

"Ok, come here and stir this for me while I put the sweet potatoes in the oven."

Raye and I had been in the kitchen for a little under 30 minutes when we heard my brother start to yell.

"I'm gonna beat the shit out of you rich boy!"

"Boy? I'm older than you I'm sure. You won't win so you mine as well not even try."

Raye and I thinking that they were fighting rushed into the room screaming stop only to find Darien and Josh playing Madden on the playstation, while Nick and Mal sat on the couch watching. Being that Raye and I had run into the room like crazy woman, they all turned and looked at us as if we were alien creatures.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Josh questioned.

"We thought ya'll were fighting," Raye answered.

"Naw, I am about the beat the fuck out of your brother though."

"Not likely," Darien countered.

"So you guys are cool?" It's not that I didn't believe or trust them! Well yeah, that pretty much was what it was! I mean less than an hour ago they were all ready to fight one another and now they were all chummy. It seemed really unlikely

"We're as cool as two guys dating each other's sister can be. He breaks my sister's heart and I'll kill him and vice versa." He shrugs, "you can say we have an understanding."

"So we're dating now," Raye questioned, she actually looked hopeful. Guess someone was over Chad.

"Don't know why you sound surprised, you know you wanted to date me," my brother turned from the game to wink at her. Raye's smile got even bigger, she was already falling victim to the Aries confidence. The rest of the afternoon was rather calm. My mother came downstairs shortly after her long shower and helped Raye and I in the kitchen while the boys switched between playing Madden and watching the football game. It was around seven when we all sat at the table to eat. Darien sat beside me, Nick beside him, Raye beside him, Josh beside her, Mal beside him and finally my mother between me and him. Looking at the table filled with food, I had to admit me, my mother, and Raye had out done ourselves with this meal. My mom said grace while Josh cut the turkey and then we all dug in.

"Mom, how are you off?" Josh asked. "This is the first time I've seen you home this long in years,"

My mom looked to Mal and he shook his head in approval. "Well Mal and I have some good news. Why don't you tell them what you did Mal."

"Remember when I told you yesterday that my producing and song writing endeavors were doing great. Well with the money from those projects I paid all your school bills," he explained, looking at both Josh and I. "Then I paid off some of mom's back debt so she doesn't have to work past what she wants to do. In the next few months Imma pay it all off."

"OH MY GOD! Seriously," I looked at my mom to see she was all smiles. "Thank you so much Mal," I cried as I jumped up and hugged him.

"Yeah, thanks man," Josh was more reserved, he just padded his back.

"So you're going to be home a lot more, now?" I asked, returning to my seat.

"Yes, I quit my second and third job today. I'm going to keep my first one until I find another one I like more." I almost couldn't believe it. My mom always had to work to so hard. Now she didn't have to. I was extremely happy for her.

"So Darien, how'd you meet my daughter?"

"She came over to tutor Raye when she had the chickenpoxs. I asked her out then but she turned me down. I spent the next two weeks wearing down her resistance. She finally gave me a chance and we've been together ever since," Darien explained. He definitely gave my mother the sugarcoated version, not that I'm complaining.

"Alright, Josh how did you and Raye get together?" Josh clearly wasn't expecting that, he damn near coughed up all his food.

"We had a few elective classes together at Westbridge Prep. I always thought she was cute and of course she thought I was handsome," he paused to smile. "Meeting up again and we just clicked."

"That's good. How about you Mal? Any special woman in your life?"

"Yeah, but she's involved with some else at the moment. I guess I'll have to wait until he messes up before I can get her back," he was staring directly at me as he spoke.

"You mine as well let that notion go and find another girl because I'm as good as they get and unlike you I'm not going to let someone great slip away," Darien's tone left no room for discussion. Mal opened his mouth to reply but was quickly cut off.

"Hey, I have a special woman in my life," Nick cut in. He was trying to ease some of the tension. "Well, I have a few actually. One's a Brazilian model and the other's an aspiring actress. I even have this mother of three, I'm trying to get. Her kids are all grown so I don't think they'll give us a problem," he smiled, staring at my mother.

"Imma give you a problem, it's my mom, you perv," I exclaimed, throwing my napkin at him. Everyone started laughing but I didn't see what was so funny. The remainder of the dinner was calm, probably because everyone stayed off the relationship topic.

After dinner my mom went to bed but not before she made the boys clean the kitchen while Raye and I watched TV and relaxed. About 30 minutes later all the boys dragged themselves into the living room.

"Baby, are you ready?" Darien asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go," Nick announced, falling across Raye and I.

"Not you, dumbass, my girl."

"Where are we going?"

"We're all going over to my house and chill. We can't really do anything because your mom is sleeping and we don't want to wake her up."

I looked at Mal and Josh to see if they were coming.

"I'm going to visit my brother," Mal exclaimed, grabbing his keys and walking away.

"Well, I'm definitely going. I have to redeem my name and beat rich boy," my brother was a serious game head. Darien drove Nick and I while Raye and my brother came in her car.

"It was nice meeting you, Serena. Keep my crazy cousin in line. Darien, I'm going to hit you up later," Nick exclaimed as we pulled up in front of Darien's apartment. He got out the car and was gone before either one of us could say goodbye. As soon as we all walked in the house, Darien and Josh started a game of Madden while Raye and I watched TV in Darien's room.

"Are you okay with me and your brother getting together?"

"I'm fine with it. As long as you and him are happy. I'm all for it," laughing I turned to her. "It's not like I could really say anything if I wasn't. Me and your brother are together. Did you ever have a problem with me and Darien hooking up?

"No, honestly I like you with him. You've calmed him down a lot. There's no more bar fights, arrests and DUIs. This is the Darien I haven't seen since before our mother died," Raye explained. I didn't know what else to say. It was a subject that Darien and I haven't even touched basis on, so instead I just turned the channel and we started watching America's Next Top Model.

I don't know how many games my brother and Darien actually played because we ended up falling asleep. I woke up to find Darien and Josh standing over us. "To the guest room we go, sleeping beauty," Josh exclaimed, picking Raye up and leaving the room. I was still groggy when Darien slipped into bed with me. He pulled me over to him but soon realized I was still fully dressed. I sat up and lifted my arms in the air as he pulled my shirt over my head. Chuckling, he pulled off my pants next as I lifted my ass off the bed.

"Goodnight baby," Darien whispered, kissing my forehead and pulling me closer again.

"Night."


	14. Chapter 12

I woke up and was met with complete darkness. I reached over to cuddle Darien but found his spot empty. I glanced at the clock happy that I didn't take my contacts out because I could see that it was a little past four. I got out the bed and pulled out some of Darien's sweats and put them on. I searched the whole apartment but found no traces of him, I was starting to get worried. That is until I looked towards the balcony and saw him out there leaning on the railing. I quietly sled the door open and stepped out. It wasn't until I wrapped my arms around his waist that he even realized I was there.

"What are you doing out here?" he turned around so that I was hugging his stomach rather that his back.

I smiled and lifted my head to look up at him, "I could ask you the same thing. How long you been out here?"

"Depends, what time is it?"

"It's probably about 4:30, now."

"A little over an hour and a half, then," he whispered, turning back to look at the sky. We stood there looking at the stars for a few more minutes, enjoying the silence. "Let's go back inside now, I've been out here long enough," he grabbed my hand and we walked back inside. It wasn't until we were lying back in his bed that he spoke.

"Today's my mom's birthday, she would have been 50. I miss her." he pulled me closer and laid his head on my chest. I've never lost anyone close to me, so I couldn't say that I understood his pain. I tried my best to comfort him. I ran my fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. "She wasn't like most of these rich mothers, that leave everything for their hired help to do, she did things herself. She took Raye and I to school every morning and picked us up every afternoon. She took me to every practice I had, was there to clean my bruises and wipe away my tears. She never missed one of my games, not one, didn't miss any of Raye recitals or anything either." I was almost jealous, his mother did more than my own but something was missing.

"Where was your father?"

He started laughing, but you could tell by his tone he wasn't happy. In fact, he sounded bitter. "My father was nonexistent in my life. He was always at work, at a business meeting somewhere around the country, or with one of his many sluts. Pretty much anywhere his family wasn't." Yeah, it was apparent that this was still a sore spot.

"How'd your mother die?"

He sighed and I almost felt bad for asking. "She had a brain aneurism and died. I was at the gym training with my boxing instructor and she never came to get me, my instructor had to bring me home. I was worried because that wasn't at all like my mother to not pick me up, but when I walked through the front door, our butler Max told me she complained of a headache earlier and was upstairs resting. Max was on his way to check on her and bring her some Tylenol and a glass of water. I told him, I'd do it so I took the tray from him and brought it to her. I walked in my parent's bedroom and placed the tray on the bed and tried to wake her up. I called her name a few times and then started to shake her but she wouldn't move. I realized then, that she wasn't breathing. I called the ambulance and they came and took her. A couple of days later they told us that she had a brain aneurism and died. I took her death really bad. I cut myself off from everyone and anything that reminded me of my mom. I stopped playing sports, stopped going to classes. It's funny I went to school just to skip it. I don't know if my father didn't notice or just didn't care but he made matters worse by remarrying three months later. That's when I lost it all, I started partying hard. You name it, I did it, drinking, fucking, fighting, drugs. I did it all."

"How old were you?"

He shrugged, "I had just turned 14."

"Are you serious? There is no way,"

"Baby, you have to realize that when you're a kid with access to an unlimited amount of money, everything is obtainable. You can get anything and I do mean anything. And I did just that. Anything I wanted I got. I walked around with a chip on my shoulder, daring someone to challenge me and unfortunately for some they tried. I hospitalized 4 of my fellow students before Westbridge Prep kick me out. I went to two other trust fund schools before I was sent to an alternative school. It took me all of 3 weeks to get kicked of there and by then my father had had enough and sent me to an all boy's boarding school for troubled teens in the middle of fucking nowhere."

"Did you get kicked out of there too?"

"Nope," he shook his head laughing. "Not for lack of trying, though. The dean, Mr. Powers stayed on me like white on rice, I swear. If I even thought of stepping out of line, he was there, extinguishing the thought before I could even attempt to try it. It didn't really matter too much; we were in the middle of west bubble fuck and there wasn't shit to do. I figured it out early that their grand plan was to bore us into acting like civilized members of society. I can't lie, though, it worked."

"So what happened?"

"What do you mean? Nothing happened. I stayed there until I graduated. I came home on holidays but being around my "new mommy" caused me to act out. After a couple of run-ins with the police, Mr. Powers thought it would be best if I stopped going home. So during the breaks, I would stay at a friend's house or at the school. Raye came and visited me a couple of times, I think she enjoyed getting away just as much as I did. Mr. Powers got me into college which I graduated from last year. Occasionally when I'm in a bad mood or I've had a little too much to drink, the other Darien tends to come out. Once he's out, he's hard to control but I'm trying. I know my mother wouldn't be happy with me if she was here, so I'm doing my best to change and make her proud. It's just hard, I wish she was here and it's not fair that he's alive and my mother isn't. You know the family business was my mom's. She was rich and married my father thinking they were in love. Him and his slut wife are living off of my mom's family business. It makes me sick. I never want to be like him."

"And you won't. Baby, as far as I can tell. You're mom would be proud of the man you're becoming. You're a good man who made mistakes as a boy but who hasn't? You show me a perfect child and I'll show you a liar."

He shook his head, chuckling, "you're something special, has anyone ever told you that?"

I shrugged, "yes, but it's always nice to hear again."

"Enough about my past, tell me something about yours. How come you never talk about your father?"

"I don't know the man. He left my mom while she was pregnant."

"Then whose is the guy in the pictures on the wall holding you as a baby," he cut in.

"His name was Drake Stokes. He died of cancer when I was four but he wasn't my father, well he wasn't my biological father I should say. My mother doesn't know that I know Drake wasn't my father. She put my real father on my birth certificate when I was born, Brennan Michael Parham. I found it when I was 11. I was in our attic looking for family pictures for a project in school when I came across my birth certificate. Curiosity got the best of me and I kept looking through boxes until I found one that was full of pictures of him and I guess things that reminded her of him. They had to be high school sweethearts or something because she has pictures of the two of them together starting from when they were like 8 until they were at least 20."

"You never asked your mom about it all?"

"No. I wanted to in the beginning but I just never had enough nerve. Then the more I thought about it, this guy just walked out on us and never came back. I really don't want to know about a man that could do that. I don't talk about Drake because I don't really remember too much about him. I was only four when he died. I remember lying on his chest in the hospital and feeling his chest stop moving. I remember my mom falling to the ground and crying when the doctor said he was gone. Josh tried to pick her up but he was just a little boy, he couldn't pick up a woman so he just sat there and held her. I remember his funeral, his parents wouldn't even acknowledge us. They came from money, you could tell, they just had that air about them. It took my mom so long to stop crying. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and hear her crying. I don't like remembering a time when my mom was so sad, so I just don't bring it up." I was surprised I shared all of that. I'd never told anyone any of that. Not even Amy and she was my best friend.

"Damn, that's deep. I'm sorry baby," he kissed my forehead and I had to smile. I loved when he kissed my forehead. Amy's grandmother used to always tell us when we were younger that if a man kissed your forehead that he truly cares about you. I hugged him closer until we both fell asleep.

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP"

I shot up from my sleep scared shitless. I had to hand it to Darien he wasn't fazed at all. The only reason I even knew he was awake was because he reached up and pulled me back down.

"Ignore her, she'll lose interest in a couple of minutes," he whispered.

"What if she walks in?"

"Doubt it, I locked the door this morning when we came back inside."

And exactly like he said, a few minutes later I heard Raye walk away from the door. We ended up getting up a couple of hours later and found Raye and Mina watching TV in the living room.

"Finally, I was bored out of my mind. Your brother is not a morning person, I had to call Mina to keep me company."

Mina looked from the TV to Darien and I. "Hello, happy couple," she waved and turned back to the TV.

"Where's my brother?" I asked sitting in between them.

"He's in the room getting dressed. Some guys called him about playing a game of football at the park.

"Jay, I'm coming with. Just let me brush my teeth," Darien yelled as he disappeared back into the room.

"So, what's on the agenda for today ladies?" Raye questioned.

"We could go to your house and chill," Mina suggested.

"I can't, the 'Rents' should have come home this morning and I definitely don't wanna deal with them today."

Remembering the talk Darien and I had this morning, I understood why. "You okay?" I mouthed. She looked at me, then towards the room where Darien was. She understood that he had told me.

She shrugged, "I'm fine. Mina lets go to yours, I haven't seen lil' man in a while."

"Who's that?" I cut in.

"My little brother. He's five."

"Yeah, Mina's mom is known for her marriages. She marries these rich old men and then divorces them. What's this her sixth or seventh marriage, Mina?"

Mina laughed, "This is her fifth, thank you very much Raye."

"Right, well like I said she marries these rich old guys. She surprised the shit out of with this last guy. For one he's her age maybe even a little younger and for two, he's not rich but mega rich." Raye laughed.

"He's a good guy though. He adores my mother and gave me my little brother so I have no complaints."

"Then it's settled, let's go," I exclaimed, standing up.

We got to Mina's quickly and parked behind Porsche Carrera GT. This girl had money. That's one of the most expensive cars in the world. Yeah, did you catch that I said the world. Just as we were climbing out Mina's car, the front door swung up and little boy with a head full of brown hair ran break neck speed into Mina's arm. "She's trying to make me take a bath," he scrunched up his face and I had to smile. He was cute. A small woman holding a towel suddenly made her presence known. "Master Evan. You stink, your mother would not be happy if she came home and you smelted like that."

"I'm a boy, I'm suppose to stink," he countered.

"He does have a point," Raye laughed.

The little boy, turned and gave Raye a smile, "Do you like clean boys?" The maid looked at Raye pleadingly.

"I sure do. I love a boy who smells like soap," she smiled as he seemed to think it over. Suddenly he turned and saw me. He shied away from me and whispered into Mina's ear.

She broke into a grin, "I don't know. You'd have to ask her." He pulled away from Mina and looked at me. "Do you like clean boys too?" This little boy was definitely too cute. He reminded me so much of Hotaru that it was a little freaky.

"Yes, I like my boys to be clean. Being stinky makes the cooties come and I'm scared of those. You wouldn't want to scare me would you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I will go take my bath then. You won't leave will you?"

I shook my head, "Of course not." The maid grabbed his arm and pulled him into hers. "Thank you," she mouthed to us all and made her way back to the house.

"I don't think you're his favorite anymore Raye," Mina laughed.

She shrugged, "He'll come back, they always come back. We made our way up to Mina's room and I almost had to throw up upon entering. Her room was disgustingly pink. Everywhere I looked I saw pink, she even had pink carpet. Who has pink carpet? As I inspected the rest of Mina's room, I came across a picture of a man that was extremely familiar. Ironically enough, Darien and I had just talked about him, this morning.

"Mina whose this?" I asked, holding up said picture.

"Oh, that's my dad. He's the only man to not fall in love with my mother," she laughed

CRASH

I didn't mean to drop the picture, I really didn't but of all the things I was expecting Mina to say, being her father wasn't one of them.

"Serena what's wrong?" I knew the color was draining from my face at an alarming rate but I couldn't control it at this point.

"Brennan Michael Parham is your father?" I asked.

"How do you know his name?" Mina countered.

I laughed, "He's my father too."

"Wait, what?" Mina looked thoroughly confused, not that I could blame her.

"He's my father too. My mother named him on my birth certificate as my father."

"What'd your mom say about him when you asked her?" Mina took one long look at my face and knew that I'd never asked.

"OH MY GOD. YA'LL ARE SISTERS! That's crazy," Raye laughed. "Now that I look at the both of you together. Ya'll do kinda look alike," she mentioned looking back in fourth between us.

"Well, what does your mother say about him?" I asked.

"No offense, if she's talking about your mother but she says he chose some cheap poor bitch over us. He was the first guy my mom ever loved and like I said before he was the first and only guy that didn't fall for my mom. When I asked him, he said that he didn't want to bad mouth my mom so…"

"You talk to him?" I interrupted.

"You don't?"

I shook my head, "he's never been around. I've seen thousands of pictures of him and my mom but he was gone before I was born."

"Serena you have to ask your mom what happened. As much as I love my mom, I know her. Her story is from her point of view and my mom's a little off, well more than a little so I wouldn't trust it."

"Okay, then let's go." The ride to my house was silent. Mina and I in the front, while Raye sat in the back.

"Mom, are you home?" I asked, walking into the house.

"In the living room," she answered. I had every intention of questioning her as soon as I saw her but finding her laying down in the living room watching TV, I lost my nerve. Mina saw this and took the initiative.

"When you first met me, you gasped. Was it because of who I am or who my father is?" My mom stood up immediately and glanced at me.

"You know?" she asked simply.

"Yes, I've known since I was 11. I found my birth certificate in the attic and then I found your box of mementos." I explained.

Mina stepped up. "We want to know what happened between all of ya'll?"

"Why?"

"Because we're both growing up without a father because of a situation between all three of ya'll. We have a right to know because we were affected," I turned to face my mother fully.

I heard her sigh as she gave in. "You sure you want to know. It doesn't paint any of us in a good light. Mina and I looked at one another and agreed simultaneously.

"You mine as well, take a seat it's a long story," she gestured towards the couch. We all sat down and gave my mother our undivided attention. "Brennan and I are from a small town in Montana. I mean small, population less than 300, everyone knows you, your mother and your father. You couldn't do anything without the whole town knowing type of town. I'd known your father my whole life. We were both from the wrong side of town. Brennan's mom was the town slut, while my dad was the town drunk and resident fuck up. We created a system fairly early, when his mother would come home with men he would knock on my window. I'd open it and he would then climb in my bed with me and we'd go to sleep. We would switch and I'd sleep at his house, in his bed when my dad came home drunk. You see when he got drunk, he turned into another person. He'd like to beat on people, me and my mom included. I had the biggest crush on Brennan but like most guys in town he didn't pay me any rabbit ass mind. He told me later that he thought of me as a little sister. That all changed when I went on my first date. My date brought me home and gave me this long and very deep goodnight kiss. I didn't know at the time but your father was watching. He knocked on my window that night and I let him in. When I was about to fall asleep he flipped me over and kissed me. He told me that he didn't want me with anyone but him so I had to get rid of the new guy because I was his girl. I was 15 when that happened and we started dating." I saw the wistful smile on my mom's face and knew that she still missed him. There were emotions in her eyes that I can't remember ever seeing before. "For the next two years, everything was great until Sophia Dumont came into town."

"So my mother wasn't from Montana?" Mina asked.

My mom shook her in head no and ran her fingers through her hand. "No, according to the talk around town, your mother had gotten into trouble back home and your grandfather sent her to live with her uncle as punishment. But it wasn't punishment for your mother in fact it was the exact opposite. Your mother was like nothing the town had ever seen. She was gorgeous, rich and by the end of the day was running our school. Students and teachers alike worshiped the ground she walked on. She had her eye on your father from the first moment she saw him but like me in the beginning, he didn't pay her any mind. He was the first person to do that and she was drawn to him because of it. She did everything to get his attention from wearing skimpy clothing to flirting with other guys hoping to make him jealous. Nothing worked until she bought him this nice leather jacket and he gave her a little attention. From then on she started to buy him all kinds of shit. Expensive things, things we would have never been able to afford from watches, shoes, to high priced electronics. She even started giving him money. For his 18th birthday Sophia bought him a motorcycle and that's where I drew the line. I told him to give it all back."

"Did he?" I questioned.

My mom laughed. "No, but he ensured me that there was nothing going on. That he was just using her for her money. He said that she was buying all this stuff hoping that he would give her a chance but that it wasn't going to happen. I didn't find out for about 3 more months that he was in fact cheating on me, well according to Sophia, cheating on her with me. She made him choose between the two of us, her and her money or me. Needless to say he chose her and I was heartbroken. By then her punishment was over and her father allowed her to come back. She set Brennan up with a job with her father and she brought him to California with her. It was about a month later and he suddenly showed up on my doorstep. I should have slammed the door in his face but I couldn't… I loved him. He was my first in so many ways and I couldn't close the door on that. He asked me to take a ride with him which I did, where he laid everything on the table so to speak. He explained that he loved me, that I was his heart, that she was nothing to him but a pay check. Brennan said that he was sick of being poor and liked what she could help him achieve but he didn't want to lose me. He showed me pictures of a house that he had already brought and said that I could have if I would come to California. He said that I didn't have to work that he opened some accounts for me and he would put money in it for anything I wanted. He talked me into becoming the other woman, basically and like a dumb teenager, I agreed to it."

"How could agree to something like that?" I cried. "You willingly became the other woman."

"I'm not proud of the decisions I made but I loved your father. I wanted to be with him. Now, do you want to know the rest of the story or not?" Judging from my silence, she continued. "He brought me back home and helped me pack. We left that night and spent the next week driving to California together. He got me situated in the house and even spent a few more days there with me before he went back to her. I got small job at a bookstore to past the time when he couldn't be near and to save a little extra money for a rainy day. I even got my GED. For a year that arrangement worked well enough until I found out I was pregnant. I was happy but at the same time scared, I didn't know how he'd take it. I told him when I was 3 months and he was overjoyed. He started spending more and more time with me, so much so that I completely forgot about Sophia. Your brother was born and Brennan started talking about marriage and I was ecstatic. Of course I jumped at the possibility of having him all to myself. We got married when your brother turned 6 months. I honestly can't say what was going on with him and Sophia at this time. He never talked about her and for all appearances seemed to only be away from us when he was out of town on business. It was probably about a year later when Brennan was at work that the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, Sophia stood there. She started to lay into me about being a home-wrecker, hussy, you name it she said. And I took it all until your brother crawled to me. She saw him and completely lost it. Yelling at me about me is one thing but yelling at me about my son is another. I told her everything that your father ever told me about her. How she was nothing to him but a paycheck, that I was his heart, everything. Then I dropped the bomb on her, that we were married and that it was she who was the home-wrecker starting from back when we were in Montana." My mom was crying by then. I got up and walked over to her and hugged her.

"It's okay, mom," I whispered in her ear.

"Thank you sweet heart," she smiled. "Your mom had secrets too, Mina, ones that she was more than happy to share now. Like the fact that they were still making love, that he told her just the night before that he loved her and that she was the only one. Brennan came home at this point. At first he looked like a deer caught in head lights so I knew that everything that Sophia said was true. He started fussing with Sophia and told her that she had no right to come here. That we were his family and that she was nothing to him. She left in tears but I still wasn't satisfied. I was naïve to believe that he wasn't with her anymore but I really thought he wasn't so I made him choose at that moment between me and her, once and for all. He chose me and agreed to have nothing to do with her. It was about year later and for no reason at all I fainted at work. When I woke up the paramedics were there and they offered to take me to the hospital just for precaution. I went but I tried calling your father but he wouldn't pick up the phone so I left a message for him to call me back. When I got to the hospital the doctor ran a couple of tests and came back with the results that I was pregnant. I was happy, your father and I had been talking about having another kid so Josh wouldn't be alone. The doctor told me to go home and rest but made an appointment for a couple of weeks later. When I was leaving the hospital I took a detour to the maternity ward to see the babies, I was already looking forward to it. Right when I walked around the corner, I saw Sophia standing there obviously in labor. They had her walking down the hall trying to make her dilate further my guess and who's by her side. None other than your father. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was the father and at that moment I made a decision to end things with Brennan. When I turned to leave I glanced back at Sophia to find her starring at me smiling like yeah, I'm having his baby. I turned my back on them completely then and walked away. Your father never did see me. He came home and I had all his stuff packed and waiting. I told him to go to Sophia because I was done. He tried to talk his way out of it but I wasn't having it. The next morning, I filed for divorced. He contested it of course. He sent me flowers at home and at work. Showered me with clothes and jewelry, he even bought me a car but I did what he couldn't. I gave it all back, I didn't accept any of it.

Then I met this guy, Drake Stokes and he was different. He came from money but didn't rely on it. In fact, he made his own money. He didn't care that I already had a child and that I was pregnant with another one. He was everything I wanted your father to be. Brennan found out I was pregnant and started just popping up at random times trying to get me to give him another chance. On one such occasion he found out I was dating Drake and became enraged. He and Drake fought. Brennan won but I still refused to talk to him, to give him any of my attention. I simply took Drake in the house and took care of him. I think that's when he gave up. The gifts and everything just stopped. He signed the divorce papers and I never saw him again. I heard from mutual friends that he got involved with the wrong people. You see I keep him grounded. Not to sound conceited but without me he was a mess. He got into drinking, drugs, and gambling. Then one day he just disappeared and I stopped hearing about him."

"He never tried to contact you about Josh and I?"

She sighed, "follow me." She took us upstairs into her room where she pulled out a box from her trunk. She opened the box and pulled out a stack of envelops tied together and handed them to me. "They started coming on your seventh birthday. They're from him. He sends you, me and your brother a letter on our birthdays and Christmas every year."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about these?"

"I'm sorry but he doesn't do well in our lives. Money is his main concern and I didn't want to let him back in only for him to bring more pain," she cried. I understood what she meant, she didn't want him in her life to bring her anymore pain and I couldn't say I blamed her.

"I understand mom, I truly do but I want to know where the other half of me came from. I want to meet him but…..I won't do it if you don't want me too."

She shook her head. "No. baby, I've been selfish enough. If you really want to do this, then I won't stop you. I just want you to be prepared for all the possible outcomes. I'll leave you to read your letters, I'll be downstairs if you have any more questions." She kissed my forehead and left the room, closing the door.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever felt this out of place. This feels like a family moment, so Imma go. Mina, I'm taking your car. I'll get the keys out of your purse downstairs," Raye exclaimed walking out the door. I sled the first letter out of the pack and opened it. I sat on my mom's bed and began reading. It wasn't long before I felt tears spring to my eyes. Mina sat beside and wrapped her arms around me. "He wants to be in my life. He wants to know me too, Mina," I muttered, completely breaking down.

"You know I've always wanted a sister. I never would have thought that I already had one," Mina laughed. "And as your big sister, it's my job to tell you to stop crying. Pretty girls like us don't cry it ruins our makeup." She continued to smile as she wiped away my tears. "He lives in New York, now but he'll be here in a couple of weeks for some business. You can meet him then. He calls me every day. When he calls today you can talk to him."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"No problem, what are sisters for?" Just as I was putting the letter away, something else inside the envelop caught my eye. With shaking fingers I pull it out.

"It's a check for 10,000 dollars." Mina exclaimed, since I still seemed to be in shock. I grabbed the stack of letters and started to open letter after letter. I found a check in each one, granted they were all for five thousand rather than ten. But who was I to complain.

"MOM, MOM," I yelled as Mina and I ran downstairs. "Did you ever open any of the letters?"

She shook her head. "What for, nothing your father could say would change what he did."

"There's a check in every letter, mom." I showed her all the ones I'd found.

"I don't want your father's dirty money or is it still your mother's money," she questioned looking at Mina.

"Actually dad is in real estate and he and my mother haven't been together since before I was born."

"Wait, what?" my mom seemed confused.

"Dad is in real estate. His company is worth a lot these days. They handle the big money clients, you know celebrities, executives, lawyers, those types. Mom and daddy are not together and haven't been since before I can remember. I've asked them both what happened but dad refuses to speak bad about my mother to me and my mom just refuses to speak on the subject at all. From what I've gathered over the years somehow my mom trick dad into having me or something along those lines. He hasn't been with her since. Of course he's around for my birthdays, Christmas and summers, but only for me," Mina explained.

"But I thought-" my mom was cut off as Josh walked through the front door yelling.

"ANYBODY HOME, HELLO." He found us in the living room and stopped short.

"Why does everyone look so gloomy?" We all exchanged looks before my mom turned to me.

"Serena, why don't you and Mina go out for a little while. I think it's time that I told your brother as well."

"Alright." I kissed my mom on the cheek and turned to leave. My brother caught my eyes and silently questioned me. I gave away nothing as I shook my head and walked out the door with Mina right behind me. Mina was already calling us a ride as we walked down the driveway.

"I'm sorry," she whispered after a moment of silence.

"For what?"

"How I've treated you over the years. Nobody should be treated like that and to make matters worse, you're my sister."

I shook my head. "It's not like you knew. And if it makes you feel better we can just say that it was sibling rivalry. All siblings go through it. Besides like I already told you, I've forgiven you. You just gotta stop harping on it," I smiled as a black limousine pulled up behind us. The driver got out quickly and opened the door for us. We both climbed in and as the driver closed the door, Mina's cell phone went off. She pulled it out of her purse and smiled once she saw who it was.

"Daddy, I have someone who wants to talk to you," she handed me the phone and for a second I just starred at it. I was almost afraid that it was a joke. After a couple of seconds of Mina pushing the phone in my direction, I took her out of her hand.

"Hello, dad." It sounded weird coming from me. Maybe because I'd never said it before. "It's me, Serena," I added.


	15. Chapter 13

"Serena, is that you?"

"Yeah…dad, it's me."

"I can't believe it. I've waited for this day for so long," my father exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Of course, I never wanted to be cut out of yours and your brother's lives but after everything I put your mother through, the least I could do was stay away and let her be happy. I wrote to you for years hoping that one day she'd give you my letters."

"Then why did it take you so long to write to us? I was seven when you wrote your first letter to me."

"Without your mother I was a complete and utter wreck. I didn't know how much I needed her to keep me in check until she was gone. I lost my way for a bit. I wasn't fit to be around anyone, let alone a child. Mina is proof enough of that."

"Mina?"

"Yeah, I wasn't myself and I hurt her. And before you ask what happened, I suggest you ask her because that is a story that I refuse to share. After that incident, I finally decided it was time to get clean. I couldn't very well get my wife and children back if I didn't."

"But you never came back to get us?"

"On the contrary, I did but your mother wasn't ready to let go of the past and forgive me. Even now she stills holds a lot of pain and resentment towards me. It's understandable but it's hard to win someone back when they haven't forgiven you and isn't even trying to." I could hear the pain present in my father's voice and wondered exactly how much he still cared for my mother.

"Mina said you were coming here in a couple of weeks."

"Yes, that reminds me of the reason for my call. Plans have changed and I'll be there next Friday."

"Exactly one week from today," I whispered. I felt myself already growing nervous.

"I would like it very much if you and your brother would accompany Mina to my summer house."

"I'm not sure about my brother. Mom is telling him about you now. I don't know how he'll react. Even then he should be back at school, so I don't know if he'll be able to come," I answered.

"Your brother has seen me over the years. I expect he'll come if he can."

"WHAT?"

"I stayed out of your life for your mother's stake but I never said I wouldn't watch. You two are my children. I was there when your brother graduated from elementary to middle school and again when he graduated from middle to high school and so on. I was a regular at his football games. I was there that day when his teammates were injured and he ended up playing in the game. I was very proud."

I was starting to get jealous; he was saying all this shit pertaining to Josh but nothing for me. As if he could read my mind, he continued.

"I was there for you too, all of your graduations. I saw you win the state spelling bee. Your mother dressed you in that pretty little pink dress and did your hair like Shirley Temple. You were the prettiest little girl in the whole room. I saw your first and last attempt at playing field hockey," he laughed "You were truly horrible, sweetheart. You definitely have your mother's genes when it comes to sports but you have my temper, that's for sure. I couldn't have been prouder when you attacked the redhead with your stick taking her out of the game." I laughed with him this time. I remembered exactly what he was talking about. Some redhead from the other team kept tripping me. I thought it was by accident in the beginning but after the third time, I realized that she was doing it on purpose. When she tried to trip me for the fourth time, I took my stick and used all my strength and slammed it into her upper leg. I found out later that I fractured her femur and that she would be out for the rest of the season. I had no remorse.

"Why didn't I ever see you?" I cried.

"That sweetheart, I don't know. Your brother didn't start seeing me until he was a sophomore.

"And why didn't he ever say anything."

"Again sweetheart, I don't know. He saw me but we never spoke. He'd just nod and smile at me. I always assumed it was out of loyalty to your mother so I respected it and just watched from afar," he explained.

"Dad, I'll definitely come and if Josh is still here, I'll make sure he's there as well."

"That's great," I could hear the joy in his voice as he spoke through the phone.

"Let me talk to Mina, I'll see you Friday. I love you," I heard him whisper but I couldn't find it in myself to say it back. I handed the phone to Mina who was more than happy to take it.

"Yes, daddy, I'm ecstatic. You know I've always wanted a sister. Why didn't you ever tell me?" She was quiet as he answered her. They continued talking for a few more minutes. "Yes, I will. I love you daddy," she exclaimed, hanging up phone. "He's happy, you know. I haven't seen him like this in years." I looked at her for a second before I went back to looking out the window. We were already back at Mina's house.

We entered her room and once again I wanted to throw up. All of this pink was ridiculous. Just as I was about to lay on her bed, I noticed Sean. "He sleeps in my room. If you haven't noticed from the stories yet, my mother is a child, mentally at least. I've been taking care of him since they brought him home from the hospital. You mind as well say he's my son. My mother heard him calling me mom a couple of times and tried to become the parent she should have been but once she realized it was hard work, she gave up. He's been calling her Sophia ever since. I've always assumed that because my mother was given everything she's ever wanted that it caused her to never grow up. She like a 16 year old girl stuck in a 40 year old woman's body. I guess you can say I've taken care of her since I was little too. Making sure bills were paid, shit like that.

"That sucks, guess we both haven't had the best childhoods. What was life like with dad?"

"Terrible. My mother and daddy never got along. Ever since I can remember they've stayed in separate rooms. My mother needs men to cater to her every need and dad just wouldn't. They'd argue about everything and it always seemed like dad couldn't stand her. I found out when I was in middle school that somehow she tricked dad into having sex with her and got pregnant on purpose. She saved the condom he used and used it to impregnate herself, well for the doctor to impregnate her. She thought that it would get him to stay with her."

"Wow, does it bother you to know that."

"It used to when I was younger. I mean how could it not, I'm the reason my dad hates my mother. But when I let it slip to dad that I knew. He made it his mission to make me understand that it wasn't my fault and regardless of how I came about, that he loves me and he has never regretted me being born. Between dad and my psychiatrist I'm ok with it now."

"So dad said that he hurt you and that's what finally made him realize that he had to get his shit together. He told me to ask you what happened."

The look that came across her face made me feel bad for even bringing it up. "Dad is a recovering addict or a recovered addict, depending on how you want to look at it. I don't know exactly when dad started using but by the time I was five, he was hooked. And my mother only made it worse. They'd argue and he just disappear for days, it wasn't hard to figure out he was going on drug binges. Through all his issues, I was still a daddy's little girl. No matter when dad came home, whether it was dumb early in the morning or in the middle of the day, or even late at night, I would run to him. On this one particular day or should I say morning, dad came home and immediately started doing a lines of coke on the living room table. After his second line, he happened to look up and saw me. I think he was ashamed that I saw him doing drugs but in his high stupor the anger came out. He snatched me up from my hiding place and took off his belt and started to beat me with it. He was yelling non sense and with me screaming, my mom came rushing in. This was probably one of the only times she acted like my mother and not the other way around. She straight attacked him and he let me go. Unfortunately through all the fighting, the alcohol that he was drinking fell on the floor and when he let me go, I slipped on it as I tried to get away. I busted my head on the glass table and had to get stitches," she lifted up her bangs and showed me a scar at her hair line that was at least 2 inches long.

"The next day, I woke up to him brushing my hair away from my face. He told me that he was leaving for a while to get better. That he was sorry for being a bad dad but that when he came back everything would be ok. I begged him not to leave or to at least take me with him. He said that I had to stay to take care of my mom. He kissed my forehead and walked out my room. I didn't see or hear from him again for like a year. He came back and ever since then he's been clean. He got into real estate and through contacts he made when he first started messing with my mother created a lucrative real estate company. But you'll see what I mean next Friday. Dad's summer house is huge."

"Excuse me Miss Mina. My babysitter just called and said my son is sick, would it be ok if I left a little early today?"

"Sure Sara. Do me a favor before you leave? Tell Charlie to make a couple of sandwiches and some sweet tea and bring it down to the theater. Then he can go home early as well. Matter of fact tell everyone they can leave for the day."

"Yes, Miss Mina. Have a good day," her maid muttered before leaving us alone.

"Movie Theater?"

"Yeah, I think we should watch a couple movies to get our minds off our depressing lives."

"Oh, that's fine. I meant the fact that you have a movie theater in your house."

She shrugged like everyone has one. "My stepfather put it in along with the Olympic size swimming pool and bowling alley. When he started dating my mother, he asked me what I like to do. So I told him, swimming, watching movies and bowling. So when they got married he made sure to have them in his house, a way of buying me off, I guess. Funny thing is, he didn't have too. As long as he was making my mother happy, I was happy. And he gave me Sean so I have no complaints at all."

"Damn how the rich people live. Well lead the way."

"Hold on, I gotta get Sean. If he wakes up in empty room especially with all the help gone, he'll freak out." She picked him up and we quietly began to make our way to the movie theater.

I already knew Mina was rich but I was definitely reminded as we walked into their movie theater. The room was huge with a drop down projection screen. It sat at least 30 people and had its own concession stand stocked with all your favorite movie treats. She laid Sean across two chairs before she started to turn on the movie machine. Not too long after the lights dimmed as their personal chef brought down a tray full of sandwiches, glasses and a pitcher of sweet tea and left. The movie started and I saw that Mina choose to put in "The Hangover." Smart woman, we both needed to laugh after the day we had.

Some time later I woke up to the credits of the movie going by. I looked over to see Mina and her brother cuddled up together. It was the cutest sight and for a moment I wish I had a camera. Standing up and stretching, I remembered watching The Hangover before she decided to watch "She's the Man", which we apparently fell asleep on. Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw that it was a little after 2 in the morning. 'Shit, I was suppose to go see Darien tonight.' I quietly left the theater room and walked upstairs to use the house phone.

'RING RING RING'

"Hello," a half sleep Darien answered.

"Can you come pick me up?" I probably should have just stayed at Mina's house but I wanted to sleep in his arms. Yeah, I'm sappy and I know it.

"Yeah, you're at Mina's?"

"How'd you know?"

"Raye told me you were with her when I called around looking for you. I was worried when you didn't come over."

"I found out a lot of things today, we watched a couple of movies to lighten the mood and I fell asleep. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry."

"It's aight baby. You ok?"

"Yeah, it's just a lot of stuff to process. I'll tell you about it when you get here."

"Alright, I'll be there in 15."

"I'll be waiting outside." I exclaimed as I hung up the phone. I went to Mina's room and left a note for her and went outside to wait for Darien.

He pulled up 10 minutes later and I slipped into his truck. He greeted me with a smile and a yawn. Dressed in ball shorts, a t-shirt and a hoodie and he looked like a teenager. He leaned over and gave me a kiss before he started driving. He tasted like cinnamon?

"I brushed my teeth. Morning breath ain't sexy," he laughed. I guess he saw my confused facial expression.

I laughed, "And you're right, but I would've kissed you either way. Thank you for picking me up."

"No problem. I sleep better with you there anyway. You're brother and my sister are at my house too."

"Really? What are ya'll like best friends now?"

He chuckled, "No, he came over looking for you and seemed upset so I gave him a couple of beers to calm down. He got a little wasted and tried to leave. Raye ended up coming over to stop him from driving and they ended up in the guest room." He made a disgusted face and I had to laugh. I remembered hearing them in my house so I knew how he felt.

It wasn't until we were laying in bed that I told him about my day. "And he wants to see me next Friday," I explained.

"At least he wants to be in your life. Hell, he wanted to be in it the whole time. That says a lot."

"I guess," I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I wasn't even sure how I felt about it.

"Goodnight baby," he pulled me closer and kissed me on my forehead. I loved the fact that he understood me so well. I never had to tell him what I wanted, somehow he always knew.

The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of Sex Therapy by Robin Thicke.

Sitting up, I found the source, a cell phone ringing on his nightstand. It wasn't his phone that much I knew. Curiosity got the best of me and I picked it up. My boo was calling. 'Was he cheating on me?' I shook my head, even if he was he couldn't be this dumb. Pushing the talk button, I put the phone to my ear.

"Do you like it?" Darien asked.

"Darien?"

"Baby, do you like it?

"You bought me a phone?" I asked.

I heard his laugh more from behind me than through the phone. Turning I saw him leaning on the door frame, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Yeah, I got you one yesterday. I was gonna give it to you when you came over but you went to Mina's."

"But I can't affo-," he kissed me before I could finish.

"You think I'd give you a gift that you had to pay for. I wanted a new phone and thought you should have one. So I got one for you. If you don't like it, we can go get a different one."

"No It's nice, I'm just a little shocked you bought me a phone. I would say that I can't accept it but I don't think you'd take it back so thank you."

"And you'd be right and no problem. I couldn't resist, I played with it a little bit last night. I downloaded a couple a ringtones and of course my number is already programmed into it.

"Yeah, I saw, my boo. Cute." He was sitting on the bed now and I crawled into his lap. Just as I leaned forward, my brother walked into the room.

"EWWW got damnit, give me some warning," he turned around quickly.

"Warn you shit, you walked into my room," Darien slid his arms around my waist.

"Serena, can I talk to you." I knew immediately it was about yesterday. Darien understood this and placed me back on the bed before kissing my forehead and walking out the room.

"How could you not tell me, you saw Dad all these years?" I asked.

"What, how did you know that?" he sat down beside me.

"I talked to him last night. He said that you've been seeing him since you were in 10th grade. Why didn't u tell me?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't even know you knew about him. Wait…. you talked to him?"

"Yes, through our sister. You remember Mina? Mina Dumont, the girl that was at our house with me last night." There was no recognition in his eyes, he still didn't remember. The girl that came over the other morning to hang with Raye," this time I saw a flicker. "She's our half sister." All of a sudden my brother jerked away from me and started to gag.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I smacked his back.

He shook his head no, "I made out with her at a party."

"Are you sure, she didn't say anything about it?" I asked. They had been around each other more than once and Mina hadn't even batted an eyelash.

"We were both wasted. We were gonna go all the way but we both passed out. Thank god," he cried.

I couldn't hold it anymore, I bust out laughing.

"You think this is funny? I made out with my sister. INCEST," he cried.

"WOW, drama king," I laughed. "If you knew and then made out with her, then yeah, I'd agree with you but you didn't. You didn't even know she was your sister And you were drunk, both of you were. Honestly, I doubt she even remembers." I shrugged.

"Like that makes it alright."

"It doesn't make it alright, Josh but it makes it a little bit more understanding. I really could care less either way, I just wanna know why the hell you never told me about seeing our father."

"I thought you thought Drake was your father. I wasn't going to willing tell you something that would change your life."

"I've found my birth certificate when I was 11."

"And how was I suppose to know that Serena. Four years ago, we couldn't even stand each other, never talked to one another. Most people didn't even know you were my sister until I was about to graduate."

He did have a point. "Well tell me now," I exclaimed.


End file.
